Family First
As always, the Congress closes ranks but was Rajiv really out of the loop on Bhopal?
Family First
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All its dramatic history cannot fully explain this curious atrophy: the family is the Congress. Which is perhaps why the grand old party has been most stunned at the public and media furore over the Bhopal gas leak verdict. Rajiv was never linked to the handling or mishandling of the gas leak fallout in 1984. But 26 years after the event and 19 years after his death, he is suddenly being attacked by the Opposition and media for allowing Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson to leave the country.
Contemporary historians and commentators have criticised Rajiv for sending Indian troops to Sri Lanka, his mother Indira for mishandling Punjab militancy, Operation Bluestar, developing the cult of personality and so much more. But the Bhopal gas leak was never a charge that was flung at the Nehru-Gandhis. Rashid Kidwai, journalist and author of Sonia: a Biography, is coming out with another book on the party titled 24 Akbar Road next month. Now Bhopal-based, he says “the furore over the gas leak verdict is a complete bolt from the blue for the family. The party and government are trying to respond but this is not an issue that will disappear overnight. Something more will have to be done.”
Members of the dynasty are good at making politically correct gestures. Priyanka made the heart-wrenching visit to her father’s assassin Nalini in a Tamil Nadu jail, Rahul has said that the Babri mosque would never have fallen had his father been in charge, Sonia has consistently linked herself with social justice legislation and routinely consults with activists.
Kidwai says he believes “the issue has been mishandled. All that was required was one comment from a member of the family and they can still clear the air”. Perhaps Rahul can make a simple statement, Sonia write a letter in Sandesh. The Congress, meanwhile, has risen in a somewhat chaotic manner to guard the legacy on which its future is being built. There is the daily parring of questions by the spokespersons. For instance, Jayanthi Natarajan told Outlook, “There is absolutely no question of the Congress diverting attention from the charges against former leaders of the party. When all the facts about the GoM (group of ministers) on Bhopal become public, you will see that they have dealt with every issue.”
The GoM has announced huge relief packages (that will be paid for by the Indian taxpayer and not Dow Chemicals) and has examined issues of clean-up at the site, compensation and further legal recourse. At the time of writing, the GoM had also cited media reports of that time to make the point that Rajiv was not in the know on the decision to let Anderson leave India. AICC secretary in charge of the media Tom Vadakkan says categorically, “There is no question of Rajiv Gandhi’s involvement...in fact it is the Hindu correspondent G.K. Reddy who said in 1984-1985 that Rajiv came to know only after Anderson left the country.” He also hastens to make the point that the NDA did not raise the issue of Union Carbide’s liabilities nor did it try to stop its sale to Dow Chemicals in 2001 when A.B. Vajpayee was PM.
And it is a valid point too. But flashback to 1984 and senior Congressmen don’t hesitate to point the finger at Narasimha Rao, who was then home minister. Rao’s legacy is already quite discredited with scandals, corruption charges and the demolition of the Babri mosque. Off the record, senior Congressmen rationalise about the time when Indira had been assassinated and Rajiv was catapulted to power. As one leader put it, “We all know who took certain decisions but we cannot say it publicly. Just imagine Rajivji’s state of mind at that time. Please see what Narasimha Rao went on to do later.” Rao is largely seen to have had right-wing inclinations and, in an age of a resurgent bjp, shifted the Congress to the right. Today, after Sonia’s 2004 “renunciation” and a good result in the 2009 general elections, the primacy of the dynasty has been restored along with an articulation of secular values and a stated intent to invest in a social net.
In all this, it is the silence of Arjun Singh that is most intriguing. The chief minister of Madhya Pradesh in 1984, he had sent Warren Anderson out of Bhopal on a state plane. Was he asked by Narasimha Rao to do so? Or was it someone else? Arjun Singh has visited 10 Janpath a few times after the verdict came so why has Sonia not asked him to speak out? Surely he can clear the clouds and end the speculation.
While Narasimha Rao is being blamed, the Congress prefers not to say anything about Arjun Singh’s intriguing silence on events that he must have first-hand knowledge about. Moreover, Arjun Singh had been strongly anti-Rao for several years and had seen himself as a chief challenger to his premiership. But as Kidwai points out, “He attacked Rao for eroding the secular values of the Congress, demolishing the Babri Masjid and several other things. But never for allowing Anderson to leave after the Bhopal gas leak.” These are questions that remain unanswered.
They could of course be the wrong questions. The more pertinent question then is: who allowed Anderson to leave? Could it be the same person who allowed him to come with the promise of a safe passage after the horrific leak? And could Rajiv just be a soft target whose name pushes up TV channels’ trp ratings when the real questions should be about current members of the Manmohan government having links to Dow Chemicals. And whether the government will really use pressure to make the company accountable instead of passing on the tab for Bhopal to the Indian taxpayer.