Speech by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP During the Discussion in Parliament

on

Recent Developments Relating to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy

11 August, 2010

Sir,

There is a common theme to these tragedies like Bhopal, which are often described as ‘incidents’ in bureaucratise. In so many cases where mass loss of life was involved, no significant person of stature has been held responsible and punished, while thousands of Indians have suffered the loss of their loved ones. And through this, most of us have remained mute spectators, with an occasional rant or lament at these obvious miscarriages of justice.

The recent judgement on the Bhopal case can almost be thought of the straw that is finally breaking the camel’s back – the outrage a result of the waking up to the fact that there must be something very wrong with us as a nation, people, government, judicial system – where an obvious act of negligence by a corporation that has resulted in so many deaths – visible to us all – can go unpunished,  be manipulated and almost swept under the carpet – with no one held accountable – a pittance being paid out as penalty, and most importantly, not enough done to treat, rehabilitate and restore the community that was ravaged. We must have all been in collective amnesia if it has taken 26 years for us to finally form a Group of Ministers to look into Rehabilitation efforts for a community that was ravaged by this tragedy!!

Through all the debate, I hope we can all be clear about one objective - We must not let up or compromise on the need to fix accountability for the Bhopal Crime and punish the guilty. Democracies such as ours can only function if there are rules and laws that are applicable equally to the common citizen, the rich and the corporates. Democracy, Governance and Media in our country are already under the extraordinary influence of Corporates and Big money. That is an inarguable fact and an increasingly obvious fallout of the last two decades of Economic liberalization. But like the other advanced Democracies of the world, India too must send out a message to all – “We are a nation of laws, Break the law and you shall have to face the consequences, regardless of who you are.” Look at the example of the US Government in the recent case of BP’s oil spill negligence.

We need to ensure that Bhopal isn’t another case of sweeping corporate crime under the Carpet. The thousands of shattered families in Bhopal deserve to get justice and closure.

I request the Home Minister to give us an unambiguous assurance that he will not rest till the guilty are brought to book.

Let me warn him that there will be some effort at soft peddling his efforts here as well. An example is the statement by a senior banker – Deepak Parekh - who is quoted as saying “I agree Bhopal is our worst tragedy. But we can’t get emotional about it. Just by putting a Chairman and CEO in Jail is not going to solve the problem!”

This is an amazing statement – showing just how compromised and lopsided our system is. The hypothesis that is being advanced him here, of course, is that we should forget that there was someone culpable and responsible for this negligence – simply because he was a Chairman or CEO. In effect, he is suggesting a double standard in how we enforce the laws of our land. We cannot allow this double standard on respect for law to continue anymore.  This is the only way our system of law can send a message to other lawbreakers. Break the law and you will be punished.

We owe that to the thousands of shattered families of Bhopal.

Thank you. Jai Hind.