As India waits for answers on who let Warren Anderson get away, NDTV has got access to a soundbite of the man himself, just before he left for the United States from Delhi. Anderson was the American CEO of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) in 1984 when a gas leak from the company's plant choked Bhopal. (Read: Who is Warren Anderson)Replying to a question from a reporter in 1984, the former Union Carbide chief said he was free to go home regardless of whether he gets bail or not.
"House arrest, no arrest...bail no bail...I am free to go home. There is a law of the United States. India...bye bye. Thank you. Take care," he had said. (In Pics: Who is Warren Anderson)
A crucial point of the controversy over the Bhopal Gas Tragedy verdict has been the exit route offered to Anderson. (Read:Anderson promised safe passage: US diplomat)
Anderson's departure from Bhopal was not a stealthy one. He flew out on December 7, hours after landing in Bhopal, on the official plane of the then Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Arjun Singh. He then stopped in Delhi before leaving the country. But the verdict delivered last week, which offered a nano-punishment to seven Carbide executives, all of them Indian, has led to a new public anger pivoted on why Anderson has never faced trial.
NDTV has also got access to the footage of Arjun Singh when he visited the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, just four days after the disaster.
Standing outside the factory, Singh clearly said there was no intention to prosecute or harass Warren Anderson. (Read:No intention to prosecute anyone, said Arjun Singh in '84)
"There was no intention to prosecute anyone or harass anyone. Therefore he was granted bail and he agreed to be present in court if charges are made," he had said. (Watch Video)
Does this perhaps explain why Arjun Singh is still silent, despite the growing demand even from within his own party that he speak out on his role in letting Anderson get away?
Arjun Singh has so far neither commented on the verdict nor on the multiple accounts by bureaucrats and others that establish that it was his office that asked for Warren Anderson to be flown out of Bhopal on December 7, 1984. Anderson was charged by the CBI with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. After leaving Bhopal on the Chief Minister's plane, he has never returned.
In different press conferences, the Congress has also said that it will try to fix accountability. Without naming Arjun Singh, party general secretary Janaradhan Dwivedi had earlier said, "The party has always maintained that all questions that are raised in any such situation must be answered properly and responsibility should be fixed. The same norm applies to this case."
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who heads a BJP government, has also slammed Arjun Singh saying he has the missing links.
"I will go to whatever extent possible to get maximum relief for the victims. Arjun Singh should explain the circumstances under which this happened. It is time he made things clear for everyone. He must speak out," he has said.
