– Pervez Bari
Bhopal: Leaders of four survivor organisations of the Union Carbide disaster have denounced the upcoming Justice-Makers Mela, scheduled to begin on Friday, citing its sponsorship by Tri-legal, a law firm that represents Union Carbide’s affiliate, DuPont, as well as corporations implicated in the ongoing atrocities in Palestine.
Rashida Bee, president of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, criticised the sponsorship: “Tri-legal, the event’s sponsor, lists DuPont as one of its corporate clients. In 2017, DuPont merged with Dow Chemical, Union Carbide’s owner, inheriting significant Union Carbide assets. DuPont is deeply entangled in the corporate conspiracy to obstruct legal remedies for Bhopal survivors.”
Balkrishna Namdeo, president of Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha, added: “Tri-legal doesn’t just represent criminal corporations like DuPont but also works with Israel Aerospace Industries, Lockheed Martin, Augusta Westland, Boeing, and other companies profiting from the ongoing genocide in Palestine.”
Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information & Action expressed outrage over the event’s timing and funding: “We are appalled by the audacity of Agami, the NGO organising this event, especially around the 40th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster. It’s equally disturbing that the 600 so-called ‘justice-makers’ invited to the Mela seem oblivious to the appalling client list of the sponsor, Tri-legal.”
Nawab Khan, of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, questioned the event’s integrity: “What kind of ‘justice-makers’ turn a blind eye to the fact that their event is funded by an accomplice of ‘Killer Carbide’ and corporations complicit in the deaths of 40,000 children in Gaza?”
The Union Carbide disaster, one of history’s worst industrial tragedies, occurred on the night of December 2-3, 1984, when nearly 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the company’s pesticide plant in Bhopal. The gas exposed over 500,000 people, killing 3,000 almost instantly. Over 25,000 have died in the decades since, and nearly half a million survivors continue to suffer long-term health impacts, with thousands left permanently disabled.
