Parliament, executive let down Bhopal victims: Chidambaram

NEW DELHI - The political establishment and executive let down the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy by allowing the judiciary to deal with its aftermath, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Thursday.

“The elected political establishment let down the victims. What complicated the matter was the intervention of the judiciary,” Chidambaram said in a reply to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on the Bhopal gas tragedy.

At least 3,500 people were killed instantly and thousands more later after the deadly methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984.

Chidambaram pointed out that all the legal proceedings, distribution of compensation and issue of extradition of Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson happened during tenures of multiple prime ministers and when parliament was very much in session.

“We are now in the sixteenth Lok Sabha. While today, I share the grief, pain and sorrow, I feel a deep sense of guilt that now in all the 26 years the executive and parliament have not exercised the vigil that they should have done,” he said.

The home minister said that “the elected representatives thought they could hide behind the judiciary”.

“This is another example where the parliament and executive ought not to abdicate its responsibility in favour of the judiciary. Let this be a lesson to all of us,” said Chidambaram.