By IANS,
Hyderabad : Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary A.B. Bardhan Friday blamed the Congress party for injustice to the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy.
Talking to reporters here, he demanded that all those responsible for the industrial disaster, including the Union Carbide Corp’s then chairman Warren Anderson, be punished.
The CPI leader wanted Anderson to be brought to India and tried in a court of law. “Unfortunately for the government, relations with the United States are more important than 20,000 deaths in the disaster,” he said.
He said the Congress should own the responsibility for its failure to try and punish all those responsible, including Anderson.
Stating that a great injustice has been done to the victims by a meagre punishment to the guilty, the CPI leader demanded enactment of new law to prevent such industrial disaster and also to hold responsible the heads of the multi-national companies in such cases.
Bardhan admitted that some policies of the West Bengal government did not find favour with the people, resulting in the defeat of the Left Front in the recent municipal elections in the state.
He felt that industrialisation at the cost of agriculture land and prioritisation for chemical hubs and car factories were the wrong policies adopted by the state government.
He advised the Left Front to introspect and go into the reasons for their defeat. It would be an uphill task to win the ensuing assembly election, he said.
On food security bill, he said the bill was of no use in its present form. He suggested Universal Public Distribution System irrespective of the Below Poverty Line to provide nutritious food to all at an affordable cost.
On Telangana issue, Bardhan said everyone should abide by the report of the Srikrishna Committee set up by the central government to look into the demands for and opposition to separate statehood to the region.