(The following article is from the January 1-15, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Gurpreet Singh

As Canada gears up for the Winter Olympics 2010, activists involved in helping the victims of Bhopal - the worst incident in the history of industrial disasters in India - have stepped up their campaign against the US-based Dow Chemical company.

     In December 1984, there was a massive gas leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, instantly killing about 5,000 people. The number of the dead later rose to 20,000. Union Carbide is now owned by Dow Chemical, one of the official corporate sponsors of the 2010 Olympics.

     Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson was charged and arrested for the deaths in India, but was allowed to flee the country back to the United States.

     The activists who are helping the victims families and those who became visually impaired for the rest of their lives organized a candle light vigil in Vancouver on December 3 to mark the 25th anniversary of the episode. The vigil was held not only to draw the attention of the world to the sufferings of the victims, but also to seek a ban on Dow from the Olympics.

     Satinath Sarangi, the prominent leader of the Bhopal victims, who visited Vancouver a few years ago, had asked the Canadian government not to let Dow Chemical to participate in the event. Likewise, Rachna Dhingra who earlier worked for Dow and is now working with the victims of the Bhopal tragedy, feels that the company is both legally and morally responsible to fix the problem after buying Union Carbide, and should clean the water system in the affected area. According to several studies, the underground water of Bhopal is still contaminated.

     The Bhopal activists feel that the Indian establishment lacks the will to get Anderson extradited from the USA and to make Dow Chemical accountable. Both the ruling Congress party and the right-wing opposition BJP have accepted favours from Dow, which is also accused of bribing Indian officials. India's Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the matter. India's Ambassador to the USA, Meera Shankar, has named Dow Chemical among other companies which reportedly paid bribes to Indian ministries and staff.

     At the time of the mishap, Madhya Pradesh province, where Bhopal city is located, was governed by the Congress. The government did nothing to relocate the Union Carbide plant despite warnings of a possible disaster. T.R. Chauhan, the former plant operator and the author of Bhopal: The inside story believes the company was also involved in cost cutting measures and possibly compromised safety. He also says that Union Carbide and Dow are involved in double standards, as they have been more careful towards public safety in the USA, but do not care when it comes to the safety of the people of a poor country like India.

     Twenty-five years later, the BJP government of the province tried to underplay the issue by claiming that the drinking water of the city is clean. Apart from facing the allegations of protecting Dow, the two big national political parties should also take blame for recklessly opening the doors to foreign investors at the cost of peoples' life and liberty.

     Rachna Dhingra alleges that Dow is one of the donors to the BJP, while the company is represented by a lawyer aligned with the Congress Party. How the rich multinational companies get away by befriending the political forces in developing and poor countries can be understood from the Bhopal episode. Not only has the Indian government failed to press the USA to hand over Warren Anderson, but a meagre compensation has been paid to the victims.

     Canada can at least make Dow answerable be cancelling its Olympic sponsorship. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who recently visited India to improve trade relations with that country, should intervene to get justice for the victims of the tragedy. A national daily of India, The Hindu, has already set an example by cancelling the associate sponsorship of Dow Chemical for its Friday Review November Fest 2009.