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Politics and Public Policy in India

1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy Rajiv Gandhi’s role – related tweets

  • GoM on Rajiv and Bhopal: sloppiness or cover-up?
  • The Hindu archives refute GoM’s Rajiv Gandhi claim
  • Text of Group of Ministers report on issues relating to Bhopal Gas Leak Calamity
  • GK Reddy – “PC Alexander brought facts to Rajiv Gandhi on Dec 7th before Centre intervened to secure Anderson’s release & flight to Delhi “
  • Here is The Hindu’s dust-up of archives from 1984 on G.K. Reddy’s report on safe passage to Anderson http://is.gd/cXXsG
  • Govt of India has no record of safe passage to Anderson, GoM relies on Hindu’s archives http://is.gd/cXWPP
  • So Warren Anderson goes to meet MEA Secy Rasgotra in US Embassy car along with US Embassy charge-de-affairs Gordon Streeb http://j.mp/9WogUb
  • LA Times Dec 9th 1984 reported that Warren Anderson met with MEA Foreign Secretary Rasgotra to discuss Bhopal Gas issue http://is.gd/cSgI9
  • Palm beach post 1987 reported Gordon Streeb of US Embassy spoke to MEA Foreign Secretary Rasgotra who spoke to PMO or PM himself to convince Arjun Singh
  • Full story of Anderson bail and departure from December 1987 Palm Beach Post http://j.mp/9tBmdE details of MEA interaction with US embassy
  • http://j.mp/bDhDrR not a single report of mob violence in Bhopal over gas tragedy in December 1984
  • time magazine detailed reprt on Bhopal dec 17 1984 no mention of any mob violence exposes misleading claims of Anderson’s release on Law and Order grounds, fears of mob violence http://j.mp/cEpiah
  • De-classified CIA document from 8th December 1984 on Bhopal is all of 1 paragraph, rest blanked out http://is.gd/cLsUc
  • A dispassionate reappraisal of events of late 1984 is very much in order to put Rajiv Gandhi’s cold political calculations into perspective
  • Contrast it with the fact that Rajiv Gandhi actually conducted a national political campaign even as horror in Bhopal continued to unfold 
  • Look at the flak Obama has received for going about his political routine during BP Gulf Oil crisis where nobody died
  • Guess it speaks to how independent the media was in India back in 1984  
  • Can you imagine today a landslide victory, utter decimation of opposition, absolute majority in Parliament after presiding over 5000 deaths
  • Will Historians ask why it was so important for Rajiv Gandhi to rush to polls in Dec of 1984 riding on more than 5000 deaths in < 60 days
  • In retrospect mind numbing to think that despite few 1000 Sikh deaths in Nov 1984 many more 1000 deaths in Bhopal India still went to polls 
  • Indian Express connects the dots between American pressure, Rajiv Gandhi and Arjun Singh http://bit.ly/aW0gJU
  • John Dean’s account of India stint is also fascinating for perspective into South Asian geopolitics from the mid 1980s
  • Page 20 Ambassador John Dean’s notes on India tenure http://is.gd/cKMve “telephone call from DC told to stay out of legal confrontation”
  • Dec 10th 1984 “Reagan Administration protested Anderson detention, was released to avoid undermining Indo-US relations” http://is.gd/cKMdn
  • More from 1984 “delicate negotiations between Indian and U.S. Governments” and “violation of promise of safe passage” http://is.gd/cKLIU
  • Crystal clear back in 1984 itself on who let him go – all this brouhaha on whodunit is phoney, buck stopped with Arjun Singh & Rajiv Gandhi 
  • More from Sudip Banerjee’s Dec 1984 press conference http://is.gd/cKDh7 “Anderson was released becoz he was not needed for investigation”
  • Sudip Bannerjee was the then Madhya Pradesh state government’s Information Director http://is.gd/cKD0b
  • Statement by Madhya Pradesh Government spokesperson Sudip Bannerjee from December 1984 on why Warren Anderson was let go http://is.gd/cKCFZ about 22 hours ago via web

Filed under: betrayal of aam admi, DesiPundit, Emergency Reparations, UPA-II Critical Appraisal

India Emergency 35th Anniversary – chronology of events

The campaign of hate unleashed by the Congress against Amitabh Bacchan on account of his being brand Ambassador for Narendra Modi ruled Gujarat , had an unintended side effect.

Unsavoury aspects of the Congress’ conduct during Emergency re-surfaced in the public debate.

Details that have all but been erased from public memory.

A less told legacy of the Emergency was the Cultural Policing and Censorship exercised during Emergency by then then Indira Gandhi regime on many Hindi movies including

an unwritten ban on broadcasting Kishore Kumar songs during the Emergency because the singer had the temerity to refuse to perform at a Youth Congress rally.

Much more sinister than the Cultural Policing and Censorship were of course the many Political detentions and the infamous forced sterilization campaign.

Amnesty International puts the number of arrests without trials at around 140,000.

Google News Archive provides a fascinating first hand glimpse into news stories of the time as the State of Emergency unfolded over 21 months under the Indira Gandhi regime.

  1.  
    1. Google News Archive – May 1975 Warnings on Democracy waning in India
    2. Google News Archive June 1975 Emergency is declared
    3. Google News Archive July 1975 Political Parties banned
    4. Google News Archive August 1975 Only 10,000 jailed
    5. Google News Archive Sept 1975 Indira Gandhi says Discipline is now a fact of life
    6. Google News Archive Oct 1975 NYTimes on Censorship of Indian Press and Indira Gandhi orders Total Prohibition
    7. Google News Archive Nov 1975 First murmurs on Population Control measures
    8. Google News Archive Dec 1975 Indira Gandhi postpones elections
    9. Google News Archive Jan 1976 Government take over of Newspapers
    10. Google News Archive Feb 1976 Public rallies banned, Journalists expelled, tighter controls on Press
    11. Google News Archive March 1976 Over 100,000 political prisoners
    12. New York Times April 1976 Indira Gandhi moving from Dictatorship to Dynasty, Total Censorship
    13. New York Times May 1976 Indira Gandhi adamant on birth control
    14. Google News Archive June 1976 Allegattions of Prisoner Torture
    15. Google News Archive July 1976 Indira Gandhi wages war on Press
    16. Google News Archive August 1976 Press battles Indira Gandhi regime
    17. New York Times Sept 1976 Indira Gandhi asks Parliament for sweeping powers constitutional ammendments
    18. Google News Archive Oct 1976 Elections postponed for another year
    19. Google News Archive Nov 1976 Constitutional Ammendments approved
    20. Google News Archive Dec 1976 Controversies on Sanjay Gandhi’s actions surface
    21. Google News Archive Jan 1977 Political Opposition gains ground
    22. New York Times Feb 1977 Arun Jaitley’s release from Jail
    23. Google News Archive March 1977 Indira Gandhi trounced in Elections after 21 months of Emergency

Tribunals set up after the 1977 elections failed to put either Indira Gandhi or members of her regime on trial for excesses committed during the State of Emergency.

33 years after the Emergency it must be asked what of reparations to the victims ?

Filed under: DesiPundit, Emergency Reparations, Indira Gandhi, Narendra Modi, UPA-II Critical Appraisal

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Opinions expressed on this site using the alias Offstumped are the blogger's personal opinions and do not in any way reflect the views of the blogger's Employers.