New Delhi: In the wake of the court verdict
on Bhopal gas tragedy, BJP Wednesday asked the government to
withdraw the controversial Nuclear Liability Bill and accused
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi
of being "insensitive" to the victims of the incident.
"It took 25 years for a court verdict to come for an
incident in which 25,000 people have been killed. Even the
compensation granted to the victims is paltry," party
spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters here.
"Against this backdrop, the government should have a
relook at such legislations. The government should withdraw
the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill," he said.
He said the BJP was of the view that the Bill was aimed
at "pleasing" the United States and not safeguarding the
interests of India in case of a nuclear accident.
He said the amount of compensation provided by British
Petroleum to the 11 victims of oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico
and that provided to the victims of the Bhopal tragedy showed
double standards. "We need to address such issues by rising
above political lines," he said.
"BJP has opposed the provisions of the Bill in Parliament
and now we will take the protest to the streets," he said.
The BJP spokesperson also slammed the Prime Minister and
the Congress president for their "silence" on the court
verdict. "This shows how insensitive the government is," he
said.
On the claims of former CBI joint director B R Lall that
the Narasimha Rao government tried to save the then Union
Carbide chief Warren Anderson, Hussain likened the allegation
to the Bofors case and said like Ottavio Quattrocchi, the
Centre gave "safe passage" to Anderson.
"The then District Magistrate has gone on record to say
that the then chief secretary asked him to grant bail to
Anderson. He was ferried in the official Madhya Pradesh
government plane to Delhi... the Prime Minister should clear
the air regarding the claims," he said.
He said following the developments, the Centre as well
as the CBI have "lost credibility."
Meanwhile, the Congress today said that the UPA
government should make every effort to extradite Warren
Anderson.
"Congress is of the firm opinion that the extradition
process should be completed and he (Anderson) should be
brought back. We hope government will take it to its logical
conclusion," Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told
reporters.
She said the Congress wanted every step to be taken to
ensure that the perpetrators of the world`s worst industrial
disaster stand trial and people who were wronged receive
justice.
PTI
