actions.bhopal.net

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY.

Please support justice for Bhopal and make a quick call to the White House!

With the world focused on corporate accountability in the wake of BP’s Gulf Oil Spill, a leaked email from the Obama administration shows that it values profit over people, when the profit benefits American corporations. On Aug 18, Mumbai-based Times Now published an email chain between White House Deputy National Security Advisor Michael Froman, and Indian Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Froman’s email said:

“We are hearing a lot of noise about the Dow Chemical issue. I trust that you are monitoring it carefully. I am not familiar with all the details, but I think we want to avoid developments which put a chilling effect on our investment relationship.”

Froman’s email essentially told the Indian government to protect Dow from its Bhopal liabilities, while people in Bhopal continue to suffer from the industrial pollutants that have killed 25,000 and have not been adequately cleaned up.

TAKE ACTION NOW: Call the White House and tell Obama to support justice for Bhopal!
Call the White House switchboard at 202-456-1414, ask for Michael Froman’s office and tell them:

* You are angered that Michael Froman is telling the Indian Government to protect Dow from its Bhopal liabilities.
* Obama must take a strong stand on Bhopal to show that corporate accountability is universal. He needs to ensure that Dow is held accountable for the suffering in Bhopal to the same level as BP has been held accountable in the Gulf.
* Bhopalis have suffered for over 25 years because of Dow Chemical Company and its subsidiary Union Carbide. 25,000 people have died while Dow refuses to clean up the site and to send Union Carbide to face criminal charges. Obama should ensure that Dow cooperates with the Indian government and courts.

Find out more:

Read the ICJB press release here
Read some of the news coverage: AFP, Hindustan Times

Please find attached press release in English and Hindi.

International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
August 18, 2010
Press Statement

Sixty four Members of Parliament from 20 political parties including, BJP, Congress, CPM, CPI, LJP, RSP, BSP and others have endorsed a letter urging the Prime Minister to set up a mechanisms to resolve all pending issues of long term rehabilitation and prosecuting the guilty corporations and individuals including Warren Anderson in Bhopal before December 2010. This was announced at a press conference at Jantar Mantar today by representatives of five Bhopal based survivors’ organizations at the conclusion of there 23- days long dharna.

According to the organizations, hundreds of survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal sitting on the pavement are still denied permission to set up a tent to protect themselves from the scorching sun and occasional rain. They are hopeful that the Delhi High Court that has already asked Delhi Police to justify denial of permission to camp at Jantar Mantar will soon pass a favourable order on their petition seeking protection of their constitutional right to peaceful protest.

The Bhopal organisations expressed satisfaction that significant progress has been made on several key demands. In particular they are happy that finally the state government has started work on installing free water connections to individual households in the groundwater-contaminated bastis next to the abandoned Union Carbide factory site in Bhopal.

The organizations appreciated the prompt action by the Indian government in filing a curative petition against the Supreme Court’s order on settlement to obtain additional compensation for the gas disaster from Union Carbide’s current owner, Dow Chemical, USA. Survivors expect the curative petition to be filed before month’s end.

Survivors groups also welcomed the Madhya Pradesh Government’s announcement that it would ask the Central Government to intervene in the ongoing case in New York against Union Carbide and Anderson seeking clean-up and compensation for contamination related damages. The MP Government has announced that if the Central Government fails to intervene, it will explore options to intervene directly.

The organizations said that the Indian Government has filed an application in the MP High Court seeking additional money from Dow Chemical for clean-up of the toxic contamination. The Minister of State of Environment & Forests, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, meanwhile, has told Bhopalis that he is open to considering any formal offer of scientific assessment of environmental contamination in and around the Bhopal factory by an independent organization.

The organizations have recently submitted a scientific critique of the report on the depth and spread of toxic contamination by NEERI and NGRI. They said that the reports of these government scientific agencies are based on false assumptions and their conclusions are not supported by data.

On the controversial issue of incineration of 350 tonnes of Union Carbide’s hazardous waste, the organizations expressed satisfaction with the application filed yesterday in the MP High Court by the Madhya Pradesh Government expressing reservations about sending the Bhopal waste for incineration at Pithampur. They asserted that transporting the hazardous waste from Bhopal to a well-equipped facility in America or Europe was the only option for their safe disposal.

The organizations said that there are a number of critical issues such as compensation for all gas victims that are far from resolved. They said they are sure that the ongoing groundswell of public sympathy and outrage on the continuing disasters in Bhopal following media exposure of the role of successive governments will help them win these battles in the near future.

Safreen Khan
Children Against Dow-Carbide

Balkrishna Namdeo
Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha
Mob. 9826345423

Syed M Irfan
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha

Rashida Bee, Champa Devi Shukla
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh
Mob. 9425688215

Rachna Dhingra/Satinath Sarangi
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
Mob. 9826167369

Rachna and Shalini set out early morning for the Parliament. They have been visiting the Parliament since last week in order to get endorsements from different Members of Parliaments. A week later, both of them seem to know a lot more of the Parliament and its many curves and lanes. At the same time, their faces have become familiar to lot more people. No wonder, when one is missing among the duo, the other is often asked by the security guards and other staff, ‘how come you are alone today, where is your friend?” Finding friends in this giant and seeming cold building is no mean task. And this is what both these ladies have been trying to do for the last six days- finding friends for Bhopalis among the Parliamentarians.

The experience so far has been bitter-sweet. Today was no different. They waited outside the Parliament for the person who was supposed to help them with the entry passes. After many unacknowledged, unreturned calls they decided to contact someone they met a day ago in the Parliament. He is Personal Secretary to a MP and he had been very forthcoming with his support. On a single call he ensured we get the passes. Our first stop being the alley near gate 2 close to Lok Sabha Gallery. ‘Abhi aapka stock poora nahi hua madam?’ asked a PS sitting next to us. We smiled and mentioned how we are trying for some more endorsements in order to have representations from different political parties. Two-three more PS sat next to us, discussing among themselves the status of politics, how parliamentarians are now demanding a salary raise from Rs 80,000 per month to Rs 1,60,000 and making playful bet on who would win the elections in Bihar this time and amidst all this euphoria remembering to give us a meaningful nod whenever a MP passed by. Soon we collected ten more endorsements.

We then decided to visit the office of Ms. Sushma Swaraj, senior leader BJP. To our dismay we learnt she won’t be able to meet us due to her prior engagements. Nonetheless, we met a MP in her office who endorsed the petition immediately. It was already lunch time and MPs were rushing to Central Hall where entry is restricted to Parliamentarians and senior journalists. But there are other places where general public can try their luck for instance, elevators where so far we have met two parliamentarians. On an average we get some two to three minutes to explain our cause. In most cases we do not leave till the MP either reads the petition and endorses it or dismisses us with some standard statements like- I will read and get back, I will see you on my way back, or leave it in my party office. Such statements are indicative of their reluctance to engage any further. We take the cue and leave.

We then went to third floor where most party offices are. Checking every name plate and peeking into the office if there was any sound from inside we also learnt which parliamentarians take their lunch in the party office and which never set their foot in. This is how we had stopped at the office of a national party twice in last four days. On both occasions the senior leaders were having their meals inside. We were asked to talk to the MP on his way out however all our patience gave way when the MP dismissed the petition asking us to return only with a petition on the letter head used by Parliamentarians. He retorted, “What will be the beauty of my signature. My name will be reduced to one among the many. Get a letter head and I will consider.”

Well, Mr MP you might have the authority to sign but the decision to seek your endorsement is still ours and so we silently decide to leave in search of not so egoistic and not so egotistic MPs. Our experience has taught us there are many who put the cause before where will my name be in the list of endorsers.

Meanwhile Parliament was adjourned for the day. We now have a total of 62 signatures with representations from 19 political parties. On our way out we met Jayant Chaudhary, a young Parliamentarian from RLD, who gave us a patient hearing but asked us to collect the endorsement next day from his office. We went to meet Sandipto Bandopadhyay, MP- Trinamool Congress at his house and he asked us to wait till Ms. Mamta Banerjee returns. Ms. Banerjee being the party leader needs to be consulted for any political endorsement. Finally we left the petition for Mr. Dara Singh Chauhan, MP- BSP at his house and returned to Jantar Mantar, our home for last 21 days where, unlike us, most of the Bhopalis spent a quiet day. Once back with our friends we get busy with planning for tomorrow. Hopefully, Tomorrow will be another day!

As Independence day dawned, it didn’t quite feel like an occasion to celebrate among the Bhopalis. Displaced from the pavement of Jantar Mantar, formerly the only site near Central Delhi where the people of this country could gather to voice their grievances. Displaced for the Common Wealth games that brings together athletes from countries whose only commonality is that they were all subjects of the British Empire.

The entire Bhopal gas disaster signifies how far we are from independence. We have gradually traded in formal political governance by the British for governance by rich entities – corporations and capital – globally. In some sense, our independence feels more like the globalization of colonialism – as if the British no longer deserved to have sole access to our resources, and labor. Now it is the Americans, the Europeans, and the Indian corporate heads who cheered on and financed our freedom struggle with an eye on all the possibilities for profiting in place of the British. The Congress party ushered out the British, and thirty seven years later, it helped usher out Warren Anderson in grand style after the Bhopal gas disaster for which is strongly responsible, having drastically cut safety measures at the Union Carbide plant to preserve profits despite previous deadly gas leaks. Elected representative after representative of our country, from many of our political parties, let Union Carbide and its subsequent owner, Dow Chemicals, leave behind its factory seeping poison into the soil, water and eventually the breastmilk of Bhopali mothers. Years of governmental negligence of this issue, and if unaddressed it undermines our very concept of our country as an independent democracy for the people, of the people, and by the people. Now is the time for us to attempt to create some semblance of justice for our long-suffering sisters and brothers in Bhopal.

For the Bhopalis there is much to mull over. All of you have seen the media outrage. We have seen the sympathy of the MPs. And we are still so far from justice. We struggle, we hope, and we will continue with all this.

Today at the dharna site, our vigil continued, damp as the afternoon air. I spoke to Abdul Rafi, fondly known to everyone as Mamu, about his story. He has been with the struggle for the full 26 years, and was 13 when the gas disaster hit in 1984. He lived with his mother, and worked to make ends meet as a laborer, including washing bottles for a while at the Union Carbide factory. At this stage of his narrative some disagreement erupted as to whether he could have possibly been employed at that age at a factory that nominally employed only adults.

On the night of the disaster, Mamu said that he was lying down and like everyone else he thought that chillies were being burnt. He tried to sleep but woke up after a while with his limbs in pain. When he went outside to see what was happening he saw people running against the wind and joined them, running past dead bodies. A woman tried to entrust her baby to Mamu, another woman was running while carrying a baby goat. Finally Mamu stopped by a tap and washed his face and found that this gave him some relief so he urged everyone else to do this as well. Some people were in such pain they jumped recklessly into the lake, but as it turned out those who could swim survived better than the rest because of the relief the water provided from gas exposure. To this day, his eyes hurt, he coughs, and worse of all he says he suffers from ‘ghabarahat’ – fears. For most, this mix of physical and psychological problems is devastating. It is for medical care, for poison-free water, for justice, that this struggle continues

The dharna site was quiet today, the mood steady but resigned to waiting. Meanwhile Rasheeda bi, Shalini, Rachna and Sathyu were able to get around 20-25 more endorsements of our petition by parliamentarians, and the personal secretaries of some MPs helped us access other parliamentarians. It was hard to figure out how to go about finding parliamentarians whom they could talk to – so they approached all sorts of people- secretaries, security guards, party office staff and so on to help us recognise parliamentarians. So now we have a total number of 53 endorsements from MPs representing 18 different parties. We hope to have a lot more endorsements from the CPI as Mr. D. Raja is circulating our petition amongst his party members.

Braving the humidity and heat all of us once again marched to Jantar Mantar in the morning from our night home, the shelter house at St’ Columbus School. Once there, Mamu, Vikas and others put up the temporary tent and we all sat down together for our morning tea. Sathyu soon left for Delhi Public School where a group of students had assembled to build their understanding of Bhopal and what it means today.

Meanwhile, Rachna, Shalini and Namdeo left for the Parliament for the usual round of MP endorsements on the Joint Petition addressed to the Prime Minister. ‘Today being the third day of our effort to get political support we had also become pretty comfortable with the staff in the Parliament. Many of them would recognize and smile encouragingly. A few others, like the Security Guard near the Rajya Sabha Gallery would give a thumbs up each time we would pass him,’ says Shalini. Both Rachna and Shalini would stand near the Rajya Sabha gate waiting for the Members of Parliament and as soon as they would see someone in white kurta and trousers, unofficial dress for the Parliamentarians, they would rush to them with the petition and supporting documents. The 7th June verdict has rekindled their interest into the facts of the disaster. With the debates scheduled for today in both the Houses of the Parliament suddenly facts have become sacred. That’s possibly why not a single Parliamentarian dismissed our Bhopal activists who seemed quite out of place in their very ordinary clothes and chappals.

In fact, Lal Krishna Advani, senior leader of Bhartiya Janta Party, who was on his way to the Lok Sabha was pleasantly surprised at being approached by these two ladies. He immediately arranged them to be taken to Sushma Sawaraj, a very eloquent speaker from BJP, who was to initiate the debate from opposition. She had already left for the house. Since we did not know the timings of the debate in the Loksabha we missed out on attending that. However, we heard parts of the discussion while sitting in the office of Telgu Desham Party (TDP). The staff at TDP is very friendly and supportive. They helped us not only with Lok Sabha Passes for later in the day but also made us meet their leader Mysora Reddy who immediately endorsed the petition and asked us to meet him again in the evening for detailed discussion.

Sushma Swaraj and other members of the opposition came down strongly on the Congress and asked for immediate intervention in the matters of remediation, extradition and the US Court Case. On its part, Congress MPs tried dissuading the opposition by citing the gaps in the legal system and emphasizing on the role played by the government and GOM. Similarly in Rajya Sabha members of opposition like Ravi Shankar Prasad of BJP and Brinda Karat of CPI (M) criticized the government for its pro-Dow attitude and demanded immediate action against the company. Ram Vilas Paswan appreciated the role of Bhopal activists and organizations in sustaining the struggle for so long and demanded Empowered Commission to look into all aspects of relief and rehabilitation. While Arjun Singh, who made a rare appearance in Rajya Sabha today, blamed Narsimha Rao for Anderson’s exit, Chidambaram would be responding to the Opposition tomorrow.

The debate in Lok Sabha started around 12pm and continued till the evening while the debate in Rajya Sabha lasted more than three hours creating quite frenzy outside the Parliament amidst the MPs and visitors as well as amongst the media.

Outside the Parliament at the pavement of Jantar Mantar, Sarita, Nidhi and Bhopalis were enjoying the rains which provided relief from the scorching heat for some time at least. Shalini, on the other hand, had a terrific time hitch hiking her way through water clogged city roads to IIT Delhi for a talk on Bhopal. Around 100 students attended the session, many being first year students, and pledged to support the struggle in all possible ways.

Shalini and Rachna went to the parliament today morning. The night before, Sandeep Dixit had informed us that there was to be a discussion on the gas disaster in Lok Sabha, and we’d send him some relevant documents. However, we didn’t know when the session would begin. MP Sayyed Pasha helped us enter the parliament, however we would need a second recommendation to enter the Lok Sabha gallery. The previous day, it was Mr. Abni Roy who took us inside the parliament.

So instead we asked Sathyu, Namdeoji and Rasheeda Aapa to join us, and took endorsements from MPs passing by the Rajya Sabha get. We again met Mr D. Raja, Shyam Benegal, Ms. Kannimozhi, Mani Shankar Aiyer, Anil Dave, and so on. Ravi Shankar Prasad recognized Sathyu and came over and appreciated our work and pledged his support. He said that he’d speak for this issue in the debate in the Rajya Sabha, scheduled for August 11. He also helped us get a pass for the Rajya Sabha. We then took a short break and ate the heavily subsidized food in the canteen, marveling at the prices at which MPs get fed!

A lot of MPs were verbally supportive. We were eventually able to get a pass from the Telugu Desam Party office to enter the Lok Sabha gallery in time for the afternoon debate. A discussion on Common Wealth games was taking place, and they postponed the debate on Bhopal to the next day, August 11. In the Rajya Sabha, the seating was very cramped and soon we came back downstairs to try and get more signatures. By the evening we had endorsements from members of the Congress, RSP, CPI, CPM, DMK, BJP, AIFB, AGP, MDMK, SAD, and some nominated and independent members.

Rachna and Shalini went to meet D Raja of CPI and Mr. Prabhat Jha, the BJP President in Madhya Pradesh, who would both be participating in the Rajya Sabha debate. They then went to meet Mr Ram Vilas Paswan. To all these, they gave some information on Bhopal for the parliamentary debates, and they also requested Mr Paswan to help expedite Sana’s surgery.

The day ended on a more relaxed note for Rasheeda Aapa and Sathyu as they joined the youth from Manzil to speak about Bhopal. Manzil has been long associated since 3-4 years to the Bhopal struggle, coming and performing at our dharnas. Today we spent some time with them and it was mutually rewarding – with young dedicated supporters such as them, we feel our struggle grows stronger by the day.

Today was an exceptionally cheerful day at the dharna sthal as about 70 new faces from Bhopal had replaced the previous batch. Sakina and Sana did yet another round of AIIMS hospital for Sana’s tumor operation and have finally been given a date for the operation. They will now be here in the first week of November for the surgery and medication.

Students from Delhi University joined us today for a interaction with Satyu and Rasheeda Apa. Inquisitive about the history of the accident and site remediation, they put forward their queries and the interaction went on very well with Satyu unfolding about the biggest industrial disaster. Some of them also helped us prepare posters for protest.

People’s movement across the country were also demonstrating across india against the violation of people’s rights and land by anti-people laws. Movements protested the displacement of people all around the country, police and mafia attacks, forced land acquisition in the tribal belts of Chattisgarh, Kalinga Nagar and Sompeta, the destruction of forests, ruining of fertile agricultural lands, adivasi lives and fisheries – all done in the name of development and GDP growth. The demonstration was spirited, culminating with burning the Land Acquisition Act, and the Bhopalis participated enthusiastically, shouting slogans and singing songs.

The protest also brought us music, from Ronid of Burning Voices, and from Manzil, the music group which has been performing for us. Neeraj, the lead singer of Manzil had even prepared a new song specially about Bhopal and everyone was enthusiastic about it. Even after the protest was over, while the police grumbled that it was time to clear the grounds, we continued singing and applauding. Neeraj asked Shanti bai to dance and she happily agreed and danced on the famous ‘Ey, Sajni’ song. The song ‘Ey Sajni’ is very popular with Bhopalis, and Yasmeen, Kaveri and many more joined Shanti Bai and the music filled the famous Jantar Mantar pavement with euphoria. The hot and humid day was taken over by the overcast and soon it started to drizzle.

Much later when Bhopalis had cleared the dharna sthal today, one of the police personnel came forward and quietly congratulated us for the lovely evening. People against people is not so much of an instinct but more of propaganda, hoping these barriers will break someday. Bhopal dharna 2010 continues in good spirits.

The world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it. –Helen Keller

More than what I see in the physical presence of the dharna is what I try and understand about the feelings of the people who have been here at the dharna this year. I mostly wonder about their strength in dealing with suffering spanning 26 years. What is this hope that still has a spark of a child’s eye. What is in the music that pulls up the oldest of the lot to dance and to cheer up the youth. What is in a huddle where women talk and girls play. And what is in the hope that has lasted two and a half decades and still continues to sit in an unreserved train compartment and travel for almost a day to reach Delhi every year.

What is in Shanti bai’s words when she pulls you and makes you sit with her, just to talk and to discuss her numerous medicines (she usually complains of rashes and sore eyes) . The group where Sakina, 25yrs old, runs after her 4th child Arif, plays with her daughter Sana, 8 yrs old (who has the throat tumor), and meanwhile tracks us all on the phone, scolding you the days you disappear. What is in the inquisitive voice of Banno bee when she asks about the ongoing Kashmir dharna, which is happening at Jantar Mantar for the second evening in a row. To describe this in an overly short and naive manner, it is this spirit of togetherness that has lasted them the strength to overcome the daily sufferings.

Food is cooked at the dharna site and distributed at lunchtime

Today we shared Jantar Mantar with the Burmese community protesting the military junta in Burma and freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi. They have been a persistent presence in Jantar Mantar. The afternoons are getting hot and humid, leaves dont move and birds stop chirping. The roads are quiet except for the buses and the kaka who brings chai at regular intervals. Under the big yellow tarpaulin things move in a slow manner on such days. Arif also gives up digging the pavements and cuddles with his mother for a siesta. They are all leaving today for Bhopal, towards the evening people start packing up and the idea of train travel fills up the air. They start moving around and saying their goodbyes to everyone at the dharna. Its a big group which is going to travel back to Bhopal and we wished them a safe journey.

The world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it . And we are together in this. There will be a new set of faces tomorrow morning and the Bhopal dharna 2010 continues.

Rachna and Shalini visited parliamentarian Abni Roy who has been to the dharna sthal and been very supportive up to now. He wrote a detailed letter to the Prime Minister asking for a set of steps to be taken around Bhopal, based on our demands.

The girls wanted to go see Delhi today, unanimously they had planned to go see Red Fort. Unfortunately by the time they could wrap up the dharna work it was too late and they were short on money for travel. They were disheartened but very soon the volunteers from AID Delhi and NCR started collecting at the dharna site. Yasmin and Safreen who were unhappy about the cancellation of their travel plans were now engrossed in talking to AID volunteers about the campaigns that Children Against Dow Carbide has been involved with. The AID volunteers were very impressed with the ‘Give your ear to the PM’ campaign and were inquisitive about how these young girls have been doing such good work along with their regular studies. Banno Bee and Rachna discussed the ill effects of the toxins seeping in the land and contaminating the drinking water. They also spoke about Dow liabilities and the remediation processes that will help Bhopal.

The day drifted into a protest against the string of killings of young people in Kashmir, organized by a group of Kashmiris in Delhi at the opposite side of the road at Jantar Mantar. The younger Bhopalis trooped over in curiosity and in solidarity, taking along parchas for good measure. The people at the Kashmir demo asked us to please not distribute our parchas, so we complied. The group at the protest for Kashmir had a lot of Kashmiris, and it was great to see such a strong Kashmiri presence. It was mostly composed of middle class young Kashmiri men, dressed well, tall, lanky, with some older supporters, with a backdrop of the people to most recently lose their lives to Indian army bullets. The speeches were personal, fiery, with people expressing solidarity from struggles all over the country. As time passed more and more people from various parts of India joined the protest. Many of the young men and some supporters had much to say, so that a song that the Bhopalis wanted to sing in solidarity never materialized in front of the mic. Still the Bhopalis stayed for a couple of hours, amazed and glad that the same police that had dragged us away less than a week ago for being at Jantar Mantar beyond 5 pm stood warily aside as the crowd in the Kashmir protest swelled to 300 people filled with rage, and continued past 8, 9, 10 pm. Wishing them luck, the Bhopalis had to leave for their abode in Columbus school by its closing time of 9 pm, their only refuge from the hostile police presence in Jantar Mantar. With all the supposed moral upper ground conferred upon them by virtue of using non-violent tactics of protest, with all the support of the media, of politicians from virtually every powerful opposition political party, it was clear that very little progress had been made in bringing justice to the Bhopalis over this dharna, let alone over the last 26 years. With the government ignoring the quiet, non-violently expressed wishes of the majority of the Kashmiri and Bhopali people for years.. with the press responding only when stones are thrown in Kashmir to bring the state’s violence out in the public eye, or when a fraction of those culpable in Bhopal are sentenced too little and too late, does it make any sense to continue pretending that the moral ground of non-violent resistance has the strength to move the Indian state or media? Indian government – this is a question for you. Resistance arises from subversion of justice, and violent resistance from the persistent subversion of justice in the face of non-violent resistance. If you want to retain any credibility in urging “abjuring” from violence, you have a long way to walk in terms of listening to the voices of non-violent resistance.

Yasmeen with children from the Millenium School

Students from the Millenium School came to visit Jantar Mantar, not our dharna per se. The students were walking around Jantar Mantar and they chanced upon our group. There was much interaction with our group, lots of questions, lots of answers. The students and teachers were taking pictures of us, and meanwhile Vikas took photos of them interacting with us. One of the teachers asked Vikas to hand over the camera, and he handed it over thinking they wanted to take more pictures. When he checked what they were doing, they asked how they could delete the pictures he was taking. He asked them – Why? They said – You won’t understand. Vikas said – Explain it to me. So the teachers said – Don’t take pictures of the girls. This led to an interesting discussion about how the students and teachers didn’t seem equally worried about the consequences of their taking photographs of the young girls from Bhopal. It led to a discussion about how trust had to be mutual, about notions of unidirectional protection across class lines, and the teachers and students felt they’d benefitted from this aspect of the discussion in addition to what they’d learned about Bhopal.

Meanwhile, Rachna went to The Other Media office to do some work and take some printouts. By the time of returning to the dharna sthal a police man was waiting for Rachna. He said he’d been waiting for a while and handed over our rejected application for permission to hold an exhibition similar to the one the BJP had erected. We pointed out the disparity between the BJP apparently getting permission for their exhibition to even stay up at night at Jantar Mantar, while our group of survivors were denied permission based on ludicrous excuses about turning into a disruption of law and order. The policeman joined us in laughing at the irony of this, saying “Yes we understand your situation”.

The morning began once again with a visit to St Mary’s School by Rachna, Yasmeen and Safreen. The school didn’t have electricity, so no film screening was possible, and the children described the gas disaster instead and talked about the issues they faced.

The big event of the day was a significant meeting with Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh. Sathyu and Rachna were present along with Jayprakashji of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sahyog Samiti), and our lawyers Karuna and Avinendra. Karuna ji represents the survivors’ groups in the Supreme Court while Avinendra represents the survivors in MP high court and Delhi high court. We presented Jairam Ramesh with our set of demands and plan to also send him our map to remediation.

In the course of the meeting Mr. Jairam Ramesh agreed to the representation of all seven of the survivors organization in the Environmental Oversight Remediation Committee. Upon our insistence, this included Children Against Dow-Carbide, over whose representation he hesistated because they were not adults. He also agreed to read the critique we had submitted on behalf of all seven survivor’s organizations, of the NEERI & NGRI reports assessing the depth and spread of Union Carbide’s toxic waste in & around the factory, and to post it to the MOEF website. He also claimed he was seeking feedback from several individuals and agencies on the NEERI & NGRI reports and will post responses on the website in another week; meanwhile the oversight committee has set up a peer review committee to present a public critical assessment of NEERI and NGRI’s report. This should be out by 27 August and comments will be possible. He also suggested that if the willingness expressed by members of the European Union Parliament to offer financial and technical assistance turned into a formal offer backed by an EU resolution, there’s a good possibility that the Government
of India would accept.

The whole meeting ended well and it was a wonderful turn-around since the time Mr. Ramesh made some jokes mocking the toxicity of the Union Carbide factory, and some of our dharna members had gone to jail for burning his effigy! We are glad that despite this, he’s taking his responsibility as the Minister of Environment and Forests more seriously than most Ministers do. This says more about the state of the government than anything else, so while we are happy for his particular responsiveness, there’s a strong imperative to move to a system where regardless of our luck of the draw with ministries and bureaucrats, the administrators are kept accountable by us, or able to be fired by us.

Today we went about the laborious process of reassembling Sana’s documents, lost as they were when the police raided the dharna sthal on August 2. This took all day, with the help of Arun Paswan and Ram Vilas Paswan, and involved Tarini and, me joining Sana and her mother Sakina in long queues of people seeking medical attention at AIIMS. There was much pushing and shoving, some elbowing, anxious patients with bandaged body parts trying to avoid re-injuring themselves, patients groaning on stretchers that cut a glacially slow path between the solid walls of people standing back to back in knots around each door in the hallways. Sakina and Sana were both delightful, assertive, funny, taking the edge off the day’s endless waiting, for re-filling forms, re-diagnosing Sana, and trying to get her an appointment for surgery that wouldn’t give her throat tumor three more years to go. Sana smiled broadly through the day, croaking jokes in her wheezing, barely preserved voice, clambering around her mother as she talked. Sakina dresses Sana in boys’ clothes, and with a refreshing simplicity, she says she prefers the way Sana looks in boys clothes, and the way it enables her to play around and not feel shy around boys. In this and other ways she’s an interesting and spirited woman, completely committed to getting her children treated and educated, but strongly motivated to keep life upbeat and full in the midst of the sickness inflicted upon her family.

Meanwhile much solidarity building happened with the other Bhopalis. The young ladies of Children Against Dow Carbide went to the New Era school today, to an audience of students from class 9,10,11,12. At the dharna sthal, Sashi who works with waste pickers came and extended her solidarity. So did Bhupendar Rawatji who works with farmers who had likewise been on a dharna in 2008 around land acquisiton. We had a second visit from Sudipta, from the Asmita theater troupe. She said her parents are both doctors and that they would really like to extend any help. We gave her a list of ayurvedic medicines we needed and she promised to try and get them for the group.

Later in the evening, Sakina came back to the dharna sthal where her young son dived into her lap to breastfeed. He emerged a good twenty minutes later, looking distinctly satisfied, burped, and proceeded to prowl around, biting unsuspecting adults on the shoulder, as we sat around drinking tea and discussing revolution. We discussed gender. We discussed cross-dressing. We discussed who would be leaving that night and who would return when and who would arrive tomorrow. Until sunset we sat, a small group of mostly gas and water affected people, discussing the overt imperialism of the British vs. the covert imperialism of today; discussing whether parties were at fault, or whether the way the entire sarkar is run is at fault; discussing how we can be the sarkar, the government, how everyone can be the sarkar.

The oppressive humidity of the last few days was offset today by a cool breeze, making the Bhopal dharna sthal positively enjoyable today. Much exchanging of notes about losses, bruises and confusion from our eviction by the police last night took place.

BJP party workers came over again to sit with our dharna people, however, making an effort to compensate for their past behavior. Meanwhile the BJP sthal stands nearby day night, with polished glossy billboards and posters. I sauntered over to get a better look, and found a set of disturbing photos of piles of bodies left over after the disaster, with poetry overwritten in both Hindi and English. Another set of posters were photographs of newspaper headlines highlighting the inefficiency of the Congress. The effect was one of a profoundly disturbing, and exploitative experience, with the limited political message that the Congress Party was to blame. One particular picture, of a half naked woman splayed out on the floor, with her naked son next to her, was particularly disturbing – given that each photo in that exhibit was selected for effect, I wonder what the BJP party workers who decided to include that were thinking. Whether they thought that the helplessness of the woman to cover herself and her child as they perished due to the gas would come through. Whether they wondered if they, the BJP, guardians of morality, were being exploitative of this woman who couldn’t view her naked photo and object now that Union Carbide had killed her. Whether they thought that shock value at naked bodies would heighten the reaction of shock the rest of the pictures of piles of bodies and cattle were also calculated to induce. How they planned the overlying poems to induce rage, only for that rage to safely transfer into faith in the BJP, and disillusionment with the Congress.

Meanwhile a second determined group of youngsters from Children Against Dow Carbide continued to reach out to Delhi schools about the gas disaster. Three young women visited Tagore International School in the norning and Bluebells School around noon. Each school had an audience of about 100-150 students of a mix of ages, who listened intently and asked a lot of interesting questions. An idea emerging out of the interactions with school children has been the idea that children from all the schools would visit the Bhopalis together on the 10th, and the students were very excited about this idea.

Today many people will once again leave for Bhopal, including Bano Aapa. Some are staying, like Sana and her family. Like Mamu, who was gas affected and has been with the struggle from the beginning, growing up through the deaths of most of his family members from the gas exposure. He planned to go back to Bhopal for a while but whose friends at the dharna sthal insisted he stay. Rashida Bee who is back at the dharna sthal from Bhopal, and more will arrive tomorrow.

Today our dharna took a dramatic turn as a fresh batch of around 150 people came in from Bhopal, fresh with determination and strength. Some like Bano Aapa, were returning, having been in the first group that inaugurated this dharna on July 26. This group joined some people who had stayed overnight even as most of their companions returned, such as little 8 year old Sana, with a tumor in her throat, and her family. In the morning, Rachna went with this family back to AIIMS, where with the help of Ram Vilas Paswan, an attempt was made to diagnose her and schedule further appointments as soon as possible for treatment. Currently, it appears her treatment might only go forward in November, but we are hoping that something can happen sooner than that.

In the afternoon, the BJP took the Bhopal issue in Jantar Mantar and turned it into an unbelievable display of crass opportunism. A large, fancy cardboard structure proclaimed the failure of the Congress in dealing with the Bhopal issue, and an exhibit, with large glossy black and white photos and text, explained the gas tragedy. Meanwhile, none of the BJP MPs who visited the site, Sushma Swaraj included, seemed to notice the actual people from Bhopal right next to their display, even though several party functionaries had parked their cars right next to our dharna sthal. A press person seemed to notice this odd fact, and it was perhaps through that intervention that the BJP realized their mistake, and sent over the Madhya Pradesh party president to talk to Rachna and Sathyu. We gave him a list of relevant questions to ask in the parliament, and can only hope these questions will be raised!

The Bhopalis resolve to stay at Jantar Mantar

In the evening, as we prepared to wrap up at 5 pm, the BJP display, built on a rather solid structure, showed no signs of closing up for the night. So we stayed, delaying our departure, somewhat curious, and just like yesterday, they seemed to feel no compunction to leave in the way the rest of the political groups at Jantar Mantar did. So we pointed this out to the police, and had a discussion about how the actual people of Bhopal were being kicked out of Jantar Mantar, made to travel daily to a far away location to sleep and pay for transportation, while displays about Bhopal to score cheap political points were left up for display. And we decided to stay in Jantar Mantar tonight. Everyone felt strongly about this.

Initially, the police attempted extended negotiations with Rachna and Sathyu, suggesting various alternative locations, to which they pointed out that we were being made to essentially pay for transportation, or for lodging, which were not trivial costs for such large numbers of people. The police suggested we go to Ramlila Maidan grounds, and walk from there daily. Sathyu reminded them that walking such distances might be easy for them, the police, but is not that easy for survivors of such toxic poison. Rachna also told them that this refusal to let groups spend the night at Jantar Mantar has effectively killed sustained campaigns of public protest by anyone coming in from outside Delhi. When the police said they could not work out anything to help us, we sat down in our place. Everyone began songs and chants, like “Saaf pani humko dena hoga!” (You will have to give us clean water) and “Hum yahaan se nahi hatenge!” (We will not move from here!)

Police warming up for the eviction of the Bhopalis, while they let the BJP be

The chants and songs intensified, as night fell and the Bhopalis were only illuminated by the intense glare of camera lights. In full view of the few press people who had rapidly responded to our urgent alerts, the police began hassling the women at the edges of our group to get up as the chants proceeded in full swing. Beginning with the older women, they first asked everyone to get up, then threatened, and then pulled. The young girl sitting next to me looked terrified but determined as she linked her arm with mine, and to my right Bano Aapa sat in dignified calm. As the police pulled at us, Bano Aapa yelled at them to let go and then we were all wrenched apart, 6 police women with their hands on each of us. Dragged as we sat, and then hauled up by each limb, I heard them insult us “You are a woman yet you don’t know how to stand up!”, “You can’t even walk with dignity”, and as we were thrown in the police bus, one police woman said “You are educated (padha likha). You should know better”, as if protest was only something that the uneducated engaged in, as if the educated should know there is nothing to protest.

Bano Aapa fell back on police twice, red with indignation but dignified as always. The bus sweltered as children shrieked for their mothers, and we were driven around the corner to the Parliament Street Police Station, not sure what would happen. In the end, we were let go, and returned to the Columbus School where the group had stayed for the last week. This was not before Sana’s precious medical documents, some bags and cellphones were lost in the course of our forcible eviction from our own pavements, to make a Delhi free of dissent, full of consent for the poisonous factory leaking toxins into Bhopali soil, consent for being bled dry by the Common Wealth Games, consent for having our rights brushed aside so that the lives of the elite, the corporations and the imperialists can be made ever less unpleasant.

Today’s dharna sthal can best be described as soaked. It poured in the morning, and then it was hot and sticky all afternoon. It’s been a week of humid shuttling between Jantar Mantar and Columbus School.

Despite heavy rains and terrible condition at Jantar Mantar, which seems to have soaked all the dirt of the city within it, spirits at the dharna sthal continue to remain upbeat! In the morning when most of us were sitting huddled together under our tirpaal a very sweet Sardarji, whose name we missed, was quite moved seeing us struggle with the rain. He actually remembered us from our last dharna two years ago at the same place, and very generously treated us all to chai (tea) and bread pakoras. These unexpected, unscheduled visits and unconditional solidarity recharge our batteries to look forward to yet another day of struggle.

We had a lovely visit around noon from the Asmita theatre group who performed a rehearsal of their play on Bhopal. Most of the theater group members are young working professionals who can afford to volunteer time to perform and rehearse only during the weekends. Parthajeet, Prachi, Jai and others from the group were really excited at the opportunity to meet Bhopalis and hear their stories first hand. Having lived the characters in a play is one thing and to meet those characters in flesh and blood quite another! So there they were bubbling with enthusiasm and buzzing with all the different questions that they had been meaning to ask Bhopalis all these days.

The Bhopalis watched intently and provided a lot of feedback about the play. The group had been planning for college outreach today through their street play but had to reschedule their plans due to weather. However, later in the day we had plenty sunshine so much so that many of us were anxiously walking back and forth on the Jantar Mantar Street for some fresh air.

Some of the women at the rally were aggrieved over the way the Bhopalis’ presence at the dharna was callously ignored in the same way that their demands have been over the last 25 years. Tulsabai asked “Shauk lagta hai kya yahaan aané ki? Maangé puri ho tho kahé aa jayein?” (“Do people think we take pleasure in coming here [to sit at the dharna]? If our demands were met why would we be here?”). Tulsabai is both gas and water affected, and has throat pain, irritation in her eyes, and stomach problems. She says she can’t eat much food, not even one full roti, before feeling stomach pain. Leelabai, Kalabai, Ranibai, Shantibai, and Maya Bai all complained of eye pain and problems with eating and digestion. While at the dharna sthal they continued to be in pain, a pain unheeded by the those who perpetrated and made excuses for the gas leak and the toxic waste seeping into the water from the abandoned factory grounds.

In the evening BJP put up its tent too. Apparently they were organizing an exhibition. We were quite surprised to see Police treating them differently from other protesters. We wondered if the timings to remain at Jantar Mantar have been relaxed in the light of a writ petition filed by us. The matter was heard on Friday and an order is expected tomorrow morning. We called up police authorities to check the status. They denied having given any permission to the BJP members to stay overnight or to leave their material at the venue for the night. We had to leave around 5pm as usual. Rumors suggested that BJP camp wasn’t lifted at all. Protesters, who are forced to shuttle between Jantar Mantar and other places in the City, like us, were quite disgusted at this differential treatment by State. Hopefully, tomorrow morning, the Court will order in the favour of ordinary citizens. If not, we will need to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Not all was amiss though. Our call to supporters for donations saw us with some positive responses. To begin with, Delhi based organization Focus- Global South, Delhi University Scholar Dr. Nandini Sunder and friends Sejal and Pulkit Parikh responded immediately. Sejal and her husband Pulkit have recently moved back to Delhi from Banglore where they were very active with the No more Bhopals Group. Their determination to live a simple life is remarkable. Sejal left her well paying corporate job to jump full time into community work while Pulkit is contemplating to join her very soon. Meanwhile, the couple continues to support activists and people’s movements through their savings. We also received emails from some other supporters pledging time for the dharna sthal in the coming week. Hopefully, this coming week we will have more visitors to give us company and to extend their solidarity to us!

Tomorrow Sana, the young girl from Annu Nagar with a throat tumor, will be taken to AIIMS. There, by the grace of Ram Vilas Paswan, who arranged a meeting with the help of the ENT department, we hope that her tumor can be diagnosed.

Tonight the group of Bhopalis who have been here for the past few days left and another group of about 150 people are expected tomorrow. Onward and forward!

Delhi’s incessant heat that persists even during the night resulted in an asthma attack for Irfan Bhai. Morning unfurled with hasty emergency calls asking for volunteers to take Irfan Bhai to AIIMS, one of India’s leading hospitals. However, failing to find a volunteer at such a short notice Vikas and Nawab Bhai started off for AIIMs with Irfan Bhai. Shalini could only join them almost an hour later due to roads flooded with water and debris.

Commonwealth games have left the city in much despair and misery. It was shocking to see the situation inside the hospital as well. Patients were making their way through different units in the rain water that trespassed its way to the insides of the hospital and clogged the corridors. Within two hours of medication and nebulization Irfan Bhai felt much better and returned to Jantar Mantar. On his way he kept reminiscing about the good old days of eighties when there were few vehicles on the road! Shalini, meter meter bhag lete the hum log! Ab to sadak sirf auto, car, buses aur inhe chalane waalon ke liye hain! (Shalini, we could run kilometers at a stretch back then. Now roads are the property of autos, cars, buses and those who can manage to afford them! Pedestrians have no right to the roads.)

Later in the day, IBN News Channel team visited the dharna site to do a story on Sana. This eight year old girl has been braving a tumour in her throat since last four years. Yesterday, Rajya Sabha MP Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan visited us and made arrangements for her medical care after talking directly with the director of AIIMS. She has an early morning appointment with the doctor on Monday and post diagnosis we will have some clarity on the situation. For now, she is bored with the rains, nothing to do and nowhere to go. All day long, men and women huddle under a small green tripal (plastic tent) our temporary water resistant arrangement. The water may try too seep into the tent but it will have to do a tremendous job to drench their courage, they sing songs and keep the spirits high. The first song in their long list is- Humko lootan ko aa gayé harami log, humko lootan ko aa gayé. Bhopal se hum paidal chalé, Anshan ke baad ManMohan milé, unke aadesh na mané harrami log, unké aadesh na mané! (Oh Look! The bastards have come to rob us again. We walked on foot from Bhopal and only after a long hunger strike ManMohan met us. But look oh look, these Bastards dont even know how to keep promises. They are back again to rob us! )This song was written during the 2008 protests by Meera, Hajira Bi and others in a similar situation and was an instant hit with the people! Meera got married a few months later and is busy with her new home and family now.

The second half of the day was quite unexpected, Jan Natya Manch team visited the dharna site. Shamsul Islam who was active in the relief work for Bhopal in the days that followed the disaster has been a staunch supporter of the struggle. Despite the rains, and no place to sit he went ahead and cheered us with his inspiring songs. Being an activist and a theatre artist himself he knows the challenges of surviving on the streets so before leaving he quietly handed us some donation towards the dharna expenses. Such warmth and help from supporters will keep us going! And an added challege will be to provide for lunch for 100 people everyday as ISKON has stopped the lunch service.

We are writing to different groups and people for support. But if you could also help us in raising donations we would really appriciate that.

All cheques payable in the name of ‘The Other Media’ are to be sent to our Bhopal office: Rachna Dhingra, C/o ICJB, 44 Sant Kanwar Ram Nagar, Berasia Road, Bhopal, MP 462001

If you are sending us a cheque kindly also send us an email to let us know about the same. Please do share this call for support to all your contacts. Do not hesitate in calling Rachna at +91 9826167369 if you would like to discuss ways in which you can support us. But most of all do visit us at Jantar Mantar, for your presence brings much encouragement and joy to us!

Most of us spent the last night waiting for the wind to blow from somewhere. When that didn’t happen most of us spent the night counting stars and braving mosquitoes. Due to some miscommunication the caretaker at the St’ Columbus school had switched off electricity and so we had to sleep outside in open. Nonetheless, St’ Columbus has been a generous host so far and we decided that perhaps talking to school authorities would ensure that nothing of this sort is repeated. We marched for Jantar Mantar early morning to avoid any clash with the school schedule. Also, today was a big day. Rajya Sabha Member, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, who was also the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers and a member of Group of Minister on Bhopal till recently, was to visit us in the afternoon.

We laid down the mattresses wrapped in clean white sheets, borrowed from Delhi Forum- a delhi based organization, and sat waiting for Mr. Paswan. The police was on high alert and stood close to the dharna sthal. Soon the place was taken over by media cameras and tripods. Mr. Paswan came in promptly at 3pm and sat with us. He wasted no time and minced no words in expressing his unconditional support to our demands.

We presented the case of Sana, an 8-year old girl from Annu Nagar which is one of the many the contaminated water affected bastis. She has had to drink contaminated groundwater for the last four years and a year ago developed a tumour in her throat. This tumour has grown to block her wind-pipe and She now breathes through a tube that goes in to into her throat. Her family of four, including a seriously underdeveloped 2-year old brother, does not figure in the Government’s schemes for free medical care because contamination affected communities are not considered by the Government to be at par with the victims of the gas disaster. Sana’s parents brought her to Delhi as part of the rally since they could not even afford the train fare from Bhopal to Delhi. Bhopal-based Gandhi Medical College has referred them to AIIMS to get the tumour operated as local facilities do not exist. In response to an appeal for financial assistance that Sana’s parents made with the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, they were told to get an estimate of the cost of treatment from AIIMS.

Mr. Paswan immediately arranged an appointment with the ENT Specialist at AIIMS for her. He agreed with our view that the Group of Ministers’ recommendations last month do not address the unfolding health and economic disasters among victims of Carbide’s toxic legacy in Bhopal. Health abnormalities, particularly among children, and birth defects are rampant among both gas-affected and contamination-affected communities.

In his address to the Press Mr. Paswan highlighted that the Government of India’s Rs. 700 crore enhanced compensation package covers only 7 percent of the total registered victims and that at least 530,000 will get nothing from this package. He stressed that without the Empowered Commission, presented to the earlier GOM by him in 2008; it would be difficult to address all aspects of rehabilitation. He also felt that the Government of India should intervene in the US Court Case and stand up for justice in Bhopal. In response to a journalist’s question whether he thinks that Mr. Manmohan Singh led government has the spine to intervene in the US court case, Mr. Paswan said he sincerely hopes that the government does that. He then left but not before arranging medical care for Sana.

TODAY’S ALL SINGING DANCING DHARNA PICS

Later in the evening, a visit from Neeraj of Manzil group lifted our spirits tremendously. Few women got up to dance on ‘hey sajni re’ while many joined in chorus. Most of us, including the police women who surrounded the dharna sthal, joined him in ‘daulat badi hai ya, kismet badhi hai ya, shohrat badi hai, ya mohabbat?’ meaning which is the greatest among these- wealth, destiny, fame or love?

Day 4: 29-07-2010
Today was relatively a light day though Delhi heat and humidity were present in equal measure. We started the day as usual with a fresh round of slogans. Some 100 Bhopalis joined us today. Amongst these were Mamu and Naeem who had also participated very actively in the last padyatra (footmarch) in 2008. Despite a two year period in between, that marked a growing restlessness with the State, their spirits remain undaunted.

Dispensing medicines

We moved our dharna to a different location second time in a week. Now we are right opposite the street where we camped in 2006 and 2008. Soon, we assembled slides and photographs depicting the tragedy in Bhopal in last twenty six years. Lots of passersby came in to read the slides. The awareness caused by the media coverage in the days after the 7th June has also triggered a renewed interest in public.

However, something else caught our attention. Ever since morning there was quite a hustle bustle at Jantar Mantar. Reason – A rally demanding 33% reservation for women in the Parliament. A number of popular artists from Indian film Industry were to come- Sharmilla Tagore, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Aazmi amongst others. Soon we saw thousands of women, men and children wearing blue caps with ‘33 percent’ marked on it, marching together from Parliament Street to Jantar Mantar, shouting slogans and singing songs. The rally was organized by Alliance for 33% and it saw participation from more than 350 organisations. The rally was also addressed by Members of Parliament D. Raja, Annie Raja and Brinda Karat who are also long time Bhopal supporters. Later we learnt that a delegation went on to meet President Pratibha Patil.

Talking about political supporters, in the morning Sathyu and Rachna went on to meet DMK Member of Parliament Ms. Kanimozhi . She was among the many MPs who had endorsed a letter addressed to the Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh demanding Empowered Commission among other things in 2008. This time too she assured her full support to our demands and expressed her solidarity.

Around 5:30 in the evening a group of police men came to the dharna for now in Delhi the new rule says- ‘You Common folk vacate Jantar Mantar, make way for Common wealth.’ So we packed our bags and marched to St’ Columbus School that treated us with remarkable hospitality and opened its arms to us for the night stay. We will be back tomorrow morning!