Yet another anniversary of the Bhopal gas catastrophe has come around, and the horrors of that night 23 years ago are still unfolding. The world's worst industrial disaster, or “industrial Hiroshima” as it has been called, did not just kill off tens of thousands of people at one stroke, and leave tens of thousands more incapacitated by lung and other diseases caused by inhaling the poisonous gas from the Union Carbide factory.

As the time span of one generation has passed since the disaster, it is clear that there is a whole new group of second generation victims. Gene mutations caused by exposure to the toxic fumes have led to an unusual number of aborted foetuses and children born with deformities among the affected sections of the population in Bhopal. It is also slowly coming to light that severe and lingering psychological trauma has also ruined the lives of an unaccounted number of “survivors” and their families.

A whole new set of ailments has arisen from the failure of the state to get Union Carbide to clear up the toxic wastes in the plant after it was abandoned. The poisons have seeped into the ground and from there into the groundwater and the water supply of the area surrounding the factory. Tests have shown that the radius of the area thus contaminated is increasing at a steady rate. Thousands of people have contracted diseases, often resulting in death, from consuming the contaminated water.

All these facts have come to light through the persistent struggle of the gas victims themselves to get justice, and through the dedicated efforts of concerned groups and citizens. The State itself, both in Madhya Pradesh and at the Centre, has done very little to rehabilitate the victims. What they have done is simply inadequate when compared to the huge dimensions of the disaster, and smacks of tokenism. What is more, the State has come in the way of the victims' own fight to get justice, by first assuming all right to act legally on behalf of the victims, and then miserably failing to prosecute the case against Union Carbide and all those responsible.

The indifference of the Indian State to the plight of the gas victims can be seen in a March 2006 letter signed by 20 American senators to Manmohan Singh which said: "It is difficult to understand why few steps have been taken to alleviate the suffering of the Bhopal survivors. The Indian government has repeatedly said that justice will be served, but has exemplified no commitment to this end." This letter also pointed out that "although it has been more than 20 years since the disaster, approximately 10-30 people continue to die every month in Bhopal from toxic exposure and around 150,000 people suffer long-term health consequences.”

Recent developments point to clear collusion between the Indian State and American corporations with respect to Bhopal. The State is actively wooing the huge conglomerate, Dow Chemicals, which has bought over Union Carbide. The affected people in Bhopal and concerned organisations in India and around the world are demanding that Dow assume liability for the clean up of the factory site and other responsibilities which Union Carbide had failed to discharge. This has become one of the major demands of the movement. But Dow has blatantly refused to assume the liabilities of Union Carbide. And the Indian government has been helping it. The Indian press has carried reports on how the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Finance and Commerce Ministries have been trying to find ways to assist Dow to get out of its liabilities regarding Bhopal, in order to attract further investments by this notorious company. Indian Oil Corporation is one of the public sector enterprises that is seeking a tie-up with Dow.

What this shows is that the attitude of the ruling Indian big bourgeoisie and the big bourgeoisie of other countries is one and the same when it is a matter of their own profits. The death and torment of lakhs of people is nothing to them. The state in India is no defender of the rights of the people, but is an instrument in the hands of the big bourgeoisie to safeguard and advance their own interests, in collusion with the big bourgeoisie of other countries. The affected people of Bhopal have set a shining example of not taking injustice lying down, and of organising and fighting to take on the powerful front of the authorities working hand in glove with the criminal corporations who have ruined their lives.People's Voice fully supports their demands that Dow be made to assume all the liabilities of Union Carbide with respect to Bhopal, and that the Indian government and public sector have nothing to do with Dow as long as they refuse to do so. The Indian State must also ensure full rehabilitation, both in terms of health and livelihood, of all those affected by the gas catastrophe.