In late May, a number of survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster, who had walked all the way from Bhopal to Delhi, chained themselves to the Prime Minister’s residence in New Delhi. Apart from their demand for rehabilitation of the disaster victims, they were demanding legal action against Dow Chemicals, the company that has acquired Union Carbide India Limited. Union Carbide was the company responsible for the Bhopal disaster.

Like many other large multinational companies, Dow Chemicals wants to profit from the exploitation of land and labour in India. It plans to invest $1 billion in India and wants to make sure that it does not have to bear the burden of liabilities from the Bhopal gas disaster.

Ten years ago the Maharashtra government allotted 100 acres of common grazing land in Chakan village near Pune to Dow Chemicals to put up a Rs. 400 crore research and development (R&D) centre there. In the meanwhile, the Chakan village panchayat was informed by various activists about the history of Dow Chemicals and the danger it will pose to the environment. The village panchayat decided to oppose Dow’s entry there. Villagers began their protest actions on 16 January this year. In one of the agitations, villagers dug up the only approach road from the highway to prevent Dow from starting its construction. When the police arrested the villagers, many more joined the struggle. Women came to the fore and fought with the police to get their fellow villagers released. The villagers are now seeking a written assurance that the operations at the R&D Centre will not harm them, their cattle or their land in any way.

Dow Chemicals is the largest American chemical company. It employs 46000 people and boasts of revenues worth
$ 45 billion. In 2001 it acquired the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) and, as per the law, owns the assets and liabilities of UCIL, including those arising from the Bhopal disaster in 1984. The Madhya Pradesh government has already filed a request for a deposit of US $22 million towards cleaning of the environmental damage caused by UCIL, which Dow Chemicals is refusing to accept.

Dow Chemicals has a long criminal history. In the Second World War, Dow was noted for helping the Nazis. It supplied magnesium (required for production of airplanes) to the Nazis at a price lower than the price in the US market. It made modifications in Napalm bomb chemical by introducing polymers that stuck to the skin, thus causing greater burns on the victims. In the Vietnam War, Dow Chemicals produced deadly chemicals for the US government and was one of the suppliers for the Agent Orange which was used to destroy the foliage in Vietnam. This chemical was so carcinogenic that even the pilots who were dropping this chemical were affected with cancer. Dow tried to prove that there was no association between the chemical and these cases, but was pinned down and was forced to pay big compensation to the Vietnam veterans. However, it is still refusing to pay damages to the Vietnamese people, who were affected even more than the US pilots.

Given the criminal activities of Dow Chemicals, a number of professors, students and researchers of premier educational and research institutions, like the IITs and NCL, have protested Dow Chemical’s attempts to establish research collaboration with these institutions.

Instead of dealing with its legal liabilities in India, Dow Chemicals appears to have adopted the strategy of getting the Indian government and influential capitalists to absolve it. On November 8, 2006, the Dow CEO wrote a letter to the Indian Ambassador to the US (Ronen Sen) asking him to clear the ground for Dow’s investments in India. Later, he wrote a letter to the Planning Commission with a similar request. Various members of the Indian ruling class have been supporting Dow’s demands, the most prominent being Mr. Ratan Tata. Tata wrote a letter to the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission supporting Dow’s case and offered that corporate India will pitch in to clean up the contamination in Bhopal.

It is clear that the Indian bourgeoisie and its government are trying to clear the roadblocks in the path of Dow Chemicals. As part of the Indo-US strategic partnership initiatives, the Indian bourgeoisie wants to forge close ties with the US bourgeoisie. It may be noted that Mr. Ratan Tata is one of the joint Chairmen of Indo-US CEOs Forum and wants to prove that they will be able to manage this tricky case.

People's Voice supports the agitations of the people against Dow Chemicals. It is entirely just and necessary to demand that the Indian government does not let those responsible for killing tens of thousands of people and causing an environmental disaster, get away scot-free.