Congress says Bihar ignominy behind Modis attack on Sonia

The Congress on Monday lashed out at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for trying to drag party president Sonia Gandhis...

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The Congress on Monday lashed out at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for trying to drag party president Sonia Gandhis name into the controversy over then Union Carbide chairman Warren Andersons arrest and release shortly after the Bhopal gas tragedy.

Questioning Modis moral authority to talk about Bhopal when he himself has a shameful record of polluting rivers and sea around Gujarat,Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said the CMs attack on Sonia was a blatant attempt to divert attention from the pathetic debacle of the BJPs national executive in Patna.

At a rally in Patna on Sunday,the Gujarat CM had taken a dig at Sonia for her silence on the Bhopal matter and asked: Who was Bhopals maut ka saudagar?. This was a reference to the Congress president calling Modi a maut ka saudagar (merchant of death),for his alleged role in the post-Godhra riots,in the run-up to the Gujarat Assembly elections in 2007.

According to Natarajan,the debacle of the BJPs national executive highlighted the final and complete collapse of the erstwhile NDA due to the divisive and disruptive brand of politics by leaders like Modi. Modi has deliberately tried to target the Congress president in order to divert attention from his own ignominy and discomfiture that the Bihar CM refused to share stage with him…This speaks eloquently of the anger and distrust that people of India feel for Modi, she said.

Referring to a report by a Gujarat Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti,Natarajan alleged that untreated and badly treated industrial and chemical effluents were being dumped into major rivers and sea off Gujarat. Modi should first perform his Constitutional duty as Chief Minister and clean up toxic effluents in his own state,before trying to make a mark upon the national scene… Modi is not only a communal polluter but also a chemical polluter, she said.

Criticising the BJP for raising questions over the role of Congress governments in the handling of the Bhopal gas tragedy case,she said the BJP itself has a great deal to answer:

What steps were taken by the NDA government to extradite Warren Anderson?

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The BJP should explain why its government in Madhya Pradesh refused to set up a Bhopal Commission after the Centre proposed it to fight for the rights and rehabilitation of the victims.

The BJP should explain why its then Solicitor General Soli Sorbajee gave one opinion in 2001 and then backtracked to give an opinion that Anderson could not be extradited,based upon the legal opinion obtained by the NDA government from the American law firm.

It was officers deputed by the NDA government who strongly advised Sorabjee that they were not in possession of sufficient material against Anderson. The BJP should explain why their government betrayed the victims of Bhopal in this fashion, Natarajan said.