Bhopal victims still await justice

New Delhi: Shamshuddin, a visitor from Uttar Pradesh, looked pensive and distraught. "What will happen to this great country if people have to struggle for 25 years and yet justice is not in sight," he muttered.

Standing next to him, Srikant Singh was busy explaining to his curious teenage son what the commotion was all about. "You were not born then, so you don't know. It was one of the worst industrial disasters India has ever witnessed. Thousands of people and animal died in matters of hours."

All that was common between Shamshuddin, a private sector executive, and Srikant, a roadside vendor, as also of dozens others, was their common concern for the continued denial of justice for the victims of Bhopal chemical disaster, exactly 25 years ago.

Having done everything possible — from walking 500 kilometres from Bhopal to New Delhi, knocking on the doors of courts, holding demonstrations and protests, the non-government organisations and volunteers working to get the victims justice are marking 25 years of the disaster in a different style. They want to create awareness, particularly among the generation born after the incident.

For the past two days they have been taking their hired mini truck, depicting ghastly pictures of the disaster and cartoon strips to various localities and schools in the national capital and intend to hold a massive demonstration at Jantar Mantar today by getting people to raise their voice for justice. They prefer calling it Bhopal Blues on Wheels and a banner hanging on the top of it proclaims: BHOPAL 1984-2009, THE SUFFERING CONTINUES, SO DIES THE STRUGGLE.

"This is part of the year-long plan. We shall be going to 87 locations across 20 states to create awareness," said Javed Naqi, youth coordinator of the International Campaign for Justice on Bhopal.

Besides the oft-seen pictures of the tragedy, the exhibition on wheels also carries 21 cartoon strips, all drawn by children of the victims.

"They [the NGOs] wanted us to draw cartoons to mark the occasion. Instead we came up with the idea that the cartoons should best be drawn by children. We held a workshop for three days to fine-tune their drawing skills," said Sharad Sharma, founder of World Comics India, which is busy promoting cartoons as communications tools.

Moving

The cartoons are all drawn by those who had either heard about it or are among an estimated 150,000 people suffering indirectly since their parents or grandparents inhaled the killer toxic gas at Union Carbine's Bhopal-based pesticide factory. Their depictions and the storylines are enough to move anyone.

"The least The Dow Chemical Company [which took over Union Carbide in 2001] could have done was to give the victims monetary compensation. It pains me to realise they have been struggling for their rights and justice for quarter of a century," said Bric, an American tourist, who along with his group was busy clicking still and video pictures.

"We are all students and would definitely do something to make our fellow Americans understand what one of our companies did to the innocents in India," said Anne Martin, part of the American group of tourist.