Congress Undemocratic Ideology - 4

[Guest]

pioneer.com

Nehru says Govt must come clean

Pioneer News Service | New Delhi

PM sets 10-day deadline for GoM report



As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday directed the newly-constituted Group of Ministers (GoM) to submit a report to the Cabinet within 10 days, disclosure made by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s close aide Arun Nehru that Warren Anderson had met the then Home Minister and the President of India before leaving the country has raised fresh questions about the role of the Centre in release and escape of the former Union Carbide chief.



Arun Nehru, former Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi Government, told TV channels, “After being released, he came in a State aircraft to Delhi. He saw the Home Minister (PV Narasimha Rao) and he saw the President (Giani Zail Singh) — this is an event which took place and it is much better to clarify. The only one who can clarify is the Government.”



At a time when the Congress is facing all-round attack on why Anderson was released after being arrested on December 7, 1984, five days after the Bhopal gas tragedy, Nehru’s disclosure has compounded its problem. The Government will certainly be required to place the relevant records of Anderson’s meeting with the President to clear the air on what transpired between the two.



In another TV interview, Nehru also said that Anderson also might have met the then foreign secretary. “He met the Home Minister and then he met the President. And then, what the media is speculating about... indicates that it is the Foreign Secretary of the time ...whether he was involved or not, I don’t know...whether he arranged the interviews with the Home Minister and the President, I don’t know. That is for you to find out. But the fact is... Anderson by what happened on the December 7 and 8 was not considered a criminal at that stage. So this is what logic indicates,” Nehru said.



The questions are also being asked if Anderson had been allowed to move from Bhopal because of law and order situation, as claimed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, why he was not put under arrest elsewhere in the country.



Raising this point, BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said at a Press conference here, “We understand that Anderson needed to be taken away from Madhya Pradesh. There were other States where he could have been taken. What was the need to send him abroad?”



Rudy said it would be impossible to believe that Anderson left the country without the knowledge of the then External Affairs Minister, a portfolio held by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.



Rudy also said there were reports that[size="5"] Gandhi had received a communication from the US President on ensuring safe passage to Anderson.[/size]



There were reports that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was unhappy with Rajiv Gandhi’s name being dragged into the controversy and wanted the Government to take urgent steps to settle the matter. This is what might have led the Prime Minister to set such a short deadline for the GoM to come up with its report.



According to an official statement, the PM has asked the GoM, constituted to look into all issues relating to the Bhopal gas leak disaster, to take stock of the situation arising out of the recent court judgement and to assess the options and remedies available to the Government on various issues involved.



This is the first time that a GoM has been asked to submit a report within 10 days on such a sensitive issue. Obviously,[color="#FF0000"] the Government wants to use the GoM to clear the air on the role of then Congress Governments in the State as well as Centre[/color] in allowing Anderson flee the country.



According to sources, besides giving a healing touch to the sentiments of the victims who have been deeply hurt by the Bhopal court judgement, which awarded a two-year sentence to the eight officials of the Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL), [color="#FF0000"]the GoM would also look into the ways of paying early compensation to the victims[/color].



Ever since the Bhopal court announced the verdict, the case has got mired in several controversies - [color="#FF0000"]from the escape of Anderson to the dilution of charges against the Union Carbide officials by the Supreme Court to the lowering of compensation amount[/color].



Seemingly, to keep Rajiv Gandhi’s name from getting dragged into any controversy, the Congress leaders have built up a chorus to indicate that then Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Arjun Singh was responsible for giving Anderson a safe exit. Former Chief Justice of India AM Ahmadi is also finding himself in the thick of a storm for not only watering down the charges from 304-II to 304A IPC but also decreasing the compensation amount from Rs 1,000 crore to about Rs 470 crore.



Meanwhile, the BJP attacked the Congress for its criticism of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s demand that the UPA Government must come clean over the Bhopal gas tragedy.



“I do not think it is wrong to ask the Congress president and the Congress Government to reveal ‘maut ke saudagar’ (merchants of death) behind the Bhopal tragedy,” Rudy said.



He wondered what prompted Congress spokespersons to “howl” when Modi “questioned the silence” of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the Congress Government on the Bhopal issue.



“They have every right to come back with a statement, but they cannot exhibit their desperation because they do not have an answer,” Rudy said, insisting that whenever such a question was posed, there had to be an answer.



The main Opposition also demanded that the Group of Ministers should find out details of how a Chief Minister, using his discretionary powers, allowed Warren Anderson, an accused in the Bhopal gas leak case, to leave the State.