Bhopal saw the world’s worst industrial accident 18 years ago. Over 3,500 people choked to a chemical death, roughly the same as in 9/11. Life became purgatory for another 2,00,000 exposed to the poison gases from Union Carbide’s ill-designed plant. The toll now exceeds 20,000.
The disaster is still happening. People with corroded lungs still cough their lives out. Children born then have monstrous deformities. And there’s no systematic treatment for those who suffer from a range of frightful ailments.
These are flesh-and-blood people. I saw Sunil in 1984 when he became the head of his orphaned family at the age of seven. There’s Nadira, who waits long hours daily at the outpatient clinic. Hasan Ali, Jamuna Devi, Mehboob Bi, Gangaram are as sick as they were in ’88, ’94, ’99...Mohammad Rehan, 18, has already had two heart surgeries. The middle-aged are fading out, the young have no future.
Raghu Rai has captured their grim reality on camera—poignantly, evocatively. The images are deeply disturbing, dark, gloomy.
This didn’t have to be. Bhopal isn’t only about charred lungs, poisoned kidneys and deformed foetuses. It’s also about corporate crime, multinational skulduggery, injustice, dirty deals, medical malpractice, corruption, callousness and contempt for the poor. Nothing else explains why the victims’ average compensation was just Rs 25,000—for a lifetime of misery.
Carbide—since merged with Dow into the world’s biggest chemical corporation—has even left Bhopal’s bastis contaminated. But its executives roam free—thanks to India’s mortal fear of denting "investor confidence". The government even wanted to dilute criminal charges against Warren Anderson, making them non-extraditable.
Yet the victims haven’t given up. Their struggle for justice and dignity is one of the most valiant anywhere. They have unbelievable energy and hope. It would’ve been a more fitting tribute to their indomitable spirit had Rai better captured the hope and the heroism. But it does tell you that the fight hasn’t ended. It won’t, so long as our collective conscience stirs.
