It would behove US President Barack Obama to pause from his rantings against oil giant BP and deliver a lecture on accountability to US-based company Union Carbide for the Bhopal gas leak 26 years ago.
Obama has made BP commit to paying damages of $20 billion (Dh73.6 billion) for its role in the massive oil spill. If he has any acumen as a statesman then he should orchestrate a boost in US-India relations by forcing Union Carbide, or its current owners Dow Chemicals, to pay a higher compensation than the $470 million they announced in 1989.
Bhopal is recorded as the worst industrial disaster in history, claiming in excess of 25,000 lives. But the compensation offered by Union Carbide amounts to a paltry sum per person.
But it is not just US double standards that are showing up in this tragedy. Politicians in India are also shifting the blame to cover up past transgressions, such as who facilitated the flight of former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson from India.
Anyone who has shown the potential to become a scapegoat has been targeted but the pleas of the victims and their families are still being ignored.
Bhopal needs closure. The repercussions of that fateful day are still being felt amongst its people.
