"It is now becoming increasingly established that the Congress at the Centre and the state of Madhya Pradesh deliberately conspired a safe passage to Warren Anderson, the chief of the Union Carbide, in spite of the fact that he was one of the principal accused in the Bhopal gas leak. It is indeed a cruel joke that the Congress Party whose government committed the most unpardonable, unpatriotic and inhuman act of giving safe passage to Anderson," party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged.
He said that even now the Congress leaders are trying to justify the safe return they ensured Anderson.
In a hard-hitting statement, he said the then Government of India had "entered into a conspiracy with the management of the Union Carbide to give a safe passage to former chairman of the company Warren Anderson who was arrested by on 7th of December 1984 following the death of 15,000 persons".
"A company statement issued at headquarters in Danbury said the arrest violated an Indian Government promise to provide Anderson with safe passage. Warren Anderson went to India, fully expecting to be of assistance and was provided with safe passage assurance from the Indian Government. Therefore, there is a formal confirmation by the company itself in public statement that the Government of India had promised a safe passage," he charged.
Prasad said it was intriguing that Arjun Singh has so far maintained a studied silence on the matter. He said that it is high time Arjun Singh cleared the air by coming out in the open.
"In one hour, Anderson was flown to Delhi from where left for America. Now the Congress leaders say that he faced death threats or he would have been killed by the people, then they could have kept him another place either in Delhi or any other suitable place where he could be given protection," Prasad said.
The Congress, he demanded, must admit that Rajiv Gandhi's government had made error in letting Anderson fly back to the US.
