Mohan Yadav accused the Congress of abandoning Bhopal gas tragedy victims and facilitating Warren Anderson’s escape.
The remarks came during Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Indore following deaths linked to contaminated drinking water.
Gandhi blamed government negligence and reiterated that access to clean water is a public right.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the Congress during Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Indore over recent deaths linked to water contamination, accusing the party of abandoning victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy and facilitating the escape of Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson, according to PTI.
Yadav alleged that the Congress governments at both the Centre and in Madhya Pradesh failed gas leak victims in the aftermath of the disaster on the intervening night of December 2–3, 1984, when thousands were killed and lakhs suffered lifelong illnesses. According to PTI, Anderson, the then CEO of Union Carbide Corporation and a central figure in what is considered the world’s worst industrial disaster, travelled to Bhopal after the leak but soon left for the United States and never faced trial. He later died at the age of 92.
“The Congress not only left people here to die, but committed an even greater sin by helping Anderson, the owner of Union Carbide, escape. Leaders of the Congress played a major role in facilitating his escape. Rahul Gandhi should apologise for that phase of governance when his own grandmother and father were in power and responsible,” Yadav told reporters.
“This has become a lasting stain. Even during the Manmohan Singh government, nothing was done here,” he claimed, PTI reported.
The chief minister said the current BJP government was working to revive shut industries across sectors to create jobs and was also pressing ahead with reconstruction efforts. “Madhya Pradesh is strengthening itself to face all kinds of challenges. We are continuously taking up new initiatives and moving ahead,” Yadav said.
Rahul Gandhi, who was in Indore on Saturday, met patients and families affected by an outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea that authorities have linked to contaminated drinking water. Emphasising that “clean water is a public right,” Gandhi accused the government of negligence over the deaths caused by water contamination in Indore, often described as the country’s cleanest city, and questioned the credibility of the prevailing urban development model, according to PTI.
(With inputs from PTI)
