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Bhopal gas victims protest to seek Obama's help
President Barack Obama's visit to India seems to have infused a new zeal in the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy survivors who organized a protest in Bhopal on Sunday demanding action against American companies allegedly responsible for the disaster. Their campaign started gaining momentum a few days
before Obama's arrival.
They demonstrated near the now-shut Union Carbide India factory on Nov 6, the day Obama arrived in Mumbai.
The survivors staged a demonstration on Sunday at Neelam Park in Bhopal, posing as dead bodies.
The survivors have always been unhappy with the Indian government's stand on not taking action against American companies and are now accusing the US president of adopting "double standards" on industrial disasters.
They are demanding that Obama and the US administration act against the erstwhile Union Carbide, owner of the pesticide plant in the city from which poisonous gas leaked in 1984, and Dow Chemical, which took over Union Carbide in 2001.
"It is understandable that America will not like to take action against a multinational company that plays a vital role in their economy. But that does not mean that our leaders will not raise concern or shy away from initiating talks with them," said a survivor-turned-activist Abdul Jabbar of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan.