I have interviewed with an Indian lady who is a member of
the family affected by the disaster 25 years ago. She does not feel comfortable
to give her real name. She lives in India, so I rang her up and I interviewed
with her by phone.
I have asked the same questions in this interview as I asked
to Hasan Suroor before, because I would like to show different answers by
different views about Dow Chemical. This is the original transcript of the interview.
- Who
is the person of your family affected by the disaster 25 years ago?
He is my dad’s cousin. He has died after for a while. I was really young. I have a dim recollection of it, but I remember that it was terrible days.
- What do you
think about Indian people's reaction to Dow Chemical as an Indian?
The reaction to most Indian people was one of disbelief and one of hate
at the same time.The root cause of the disaster was Indian politicians;
a law was passed in India saying that at least 50% of the board of any company
doing business in India had to be Indian nationals. So Union Carbide was forced
to hand the control of the plant to a board dominated by Indian nationals, and
that was when corruption set in and safety standards at the plant started to
slip. After a decade or so of this decline, the disaster happened, and the
Indians tried to blame the US Company. It’s a development that could lead to a diplomatic crisis between India and the UK. Dow Chemicals, which has yet to shake the Bhopal gas tragedy off its back, has now been named as one of the sponsors of the 2012 London Olympics.
- How would the people and athletes of India
react if Dow Chemical sponsorship went ahead?
The reputation has and would still come into disrepute. The
Olympics is a sacred event for all the nations that take part in this
prestigious event. Dow chemical will always be remembered for the Bhopal
Disaster that happened nearly 25 years ago. Yes, arguably many say that sport
should reunite and let sportsman bring the best into any nation or sponsor, but
the effects of this disaster are so catastrophic that if they were allowed to
sponsor then many Indians and athletes would be condoning what had happened.
- Do you think the bad publicity will affect the
Indian athlete’s performance at the Olympics?
I do not think that it would affect their ability
or their performance as they are professionals in their own right. I feel that
it would have hindered their performances if the sponsorship would have been
allowed. Bad publicity could have come in many forms but one for the Bhopal
Disaster is immense for any Asian be it an athlete or a civilian. Fortunately,
Indian athletes can now concentrate on the job at hand and do their utmost best
for India.
- How will the cancelled Dow Chemical sponsorship
affect the Indian economy during the Olympics?
The cancelled sponsorship will be catastrophic
to the Indian Economy. However, the lives of those and affected and those who
have died have, and should not be in vain for the economy of India’s
Government. Admittedly, to sponsor something as big as the Olympics would be
brilliant, however, the Indian athletes and the people of India has been put
first.
- As Indian who knows someone affected, generally
how do you feel about the situation? And what is the general feeling within the
Indian community?
Dow chemical
may pretend that they care but what they really created hear was simply a mirage. They try to cover up what they did by fabricating a
vision to which stock holders of Dow chemical feel is the true vision of the
company when really that vision is of nothing but Greed! Money once again has
played its part in destroying life by letting fat cats in high places ignore
what has happened in return for a tidy sum to buy that car they will never drive
or that house they will never use!
