New Delhi: Forty-one years after the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, survivors’ organisations have accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of protecting Union Carbide and Dow Chemical from accountability and obstructing justice.

At a press conference held on Monday (December 1), four survivor groups – Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha, and the Bhopal Group for Information & Action – released a document titled Bhopal Survivors’ Chargesheet against the BJP.

The document lists 13 instances between 1982 and 2024 where the groups have alleged that BJP governments over the years intervened to dilute criminal charges, block rehabilitation measures, weaken compensation efforts, and enable Dow Chemical’s expansion in India.

The Bhopal gas leak took place on the night of December 2–3, 1984, and released 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate, which killed at least 5,000 people immediately and exposed over half a million to the adverse effects of the gas. Long-term effects of the tragedy include chronic respiratory illness, cancers, reproductive harm, and intergenerational disabilities. Survivors also continue to face groundwater and soil contamination from toxic waste left at the abandoned factory.

Union Carbide, the compamy which ran the pesticide plant in Bhopal where the gas leak occurred remain an absconder, while Dow Chemical, which aquired Union Carbide in 2001 continues to refuse Indian court summons. Warren Anderson, who was the CEO of Union Carbide at the time of the disaster, passed away in the US in 2014 and could never be extradited to India for standing trial, despite repeated demands by victims of the tragedy. Survivor groups say justice has been systematically denied.

'Decades of political protection for offending corporations'

Speaking at the press conference on Monday, survivors' said the chargesheet brought out against the BJP demonstrates a clear, long-term pattern of political decisions favouring corporate interests over survivors’ rights.

Speaking to The Wire, Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh said: “The BJP at the state government and at the Centre has betrayed the Bhopal survivors like no other political party.”

She further alleged that senior BJP leaders intervened at critical legal and policy junctures, blocking criminal accountability and rehabilitation systems. “They stood with corporations, not with citizens exposed to industrial poison,” she said.

Timeline of Allegations Listed in the Bhopal Survivors’ Chargesheet Against the BJP (1982–2025)

The two-page document details the following events as examples of alleged political collusion and abdication of responsibility:

1982: Survivors allege that Babulal Bhanpura and other farmers protested cattle deaths caused by toxic waste from Union Carbide’s evaporation ponds. BJP leader Babulal Gaur, who later went on to become the minister for Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation in 1990, intervened to settle the dispute informally for a small sum. The complaints were never officially registered.

2002: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), acting under the direction of then Union home minister L.K. Advani, filed an application in a Bhopal court seeking to dilute charges against Warren Anderson and Union Carbide Corporation from culpable homicide to negligence.

2006: Then BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley issued a legal opinion asserting that Dow Chemical could not be held liable for the Bhopal disaster.

2006–2007: The BJP is alleged to have accepted donations from Dow Chemical. The party later acknowledged that the funds were returned in November 2008.

2008: Then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan stopped the establishment of the Empowered Commission in Bhopal, intended to oversee long-term medical, social and economic rehabilitation.

2011: CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is alleged to have broken his commitment to set up an expert panel to assess environmental damage and seek compensation from Union Carbide and Dow Chemical.

2011: Survivor organisations accuse the state government of refusing to revise death and injury data used in the Supreme Court Curative Petition for enhanced compensation, thereby weakening the case.

2015: The BJP-led central government rejected an offer from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to conduct an independent scientific assessment of soil and groundwater contamination around the abandoned Union Carbide plant

2015: Despite Dow Chemical ignoring four consecutive court summons in the criminal case, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted a special dinner for the company’s CEO in the United States.

2019: Gas relief minister Vishwas Sarang allegedly sought to divert Rs. 135 crore earmarked for rehabilitation to build drains, parks and roads in his constituency.

2020: CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is alleged to have failed to deliver promised pensions to widows of gas victims; more than 500 women reportedly continue to be denied payments.

2024: Despite a court order prohibiting procurement of Union Carbide technology, Indian Oil Corporation purchased UNIPOL-PE from Dow Chemical for the Paradip refinery. 

2004–2025: Survivor groups allege non-implementation of recommendations by the Supreme Court–appointed Monitoring Committee compliance reports of 2023 and 2025 regarding free and appropriate care for survivors and their children.

Speaking to The Wire, survivor group leader Balkrishna Namdeo, president of the Nirashrit Pensionbhogee Sangharsh Morcha, stated: “This timeline shows deliberate choices by those in power to dilute accountability and support the commercial expansion of Dow Chemical in India.”

Collapse of rehabilitation systems

Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information & Action said the disbanding of the Empowered Commission in 2008 marked a turning point in the deterioration of survivor welfare.

“Medical and economic rehabilitation have been the weakest under BJP rule,” she said. “There has been no meaningful framework, no independent monitoring, and no plan aligned with medical realities.”

Survivor groups say that gas relief hospitals remain understaffed and poorly equipped, research documenting long-term health impacts has stagnated, employment and livelihood programmes function at minimal capacity, and thousands of survivors remain unable to work, leaving many households dependent on irregular pension support.

Expansion of Dow Chemical in India

According to survivor organisations, instead of applying pressure for compliance with court proceedings or remediation obligations, state and central governments have permitted the company to grow its commercial footprint in India. “Dow Chemical is having its best time under BJP rule,” said Nawab Khan, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha.

“Public-sector undertakings are doing business with them. That contradicts the claim that the government has no relationship with Dow,” Khan added.

Key demands

The organisations reiterated demands that have remained unchanged for more than two decades, including criminal prosecution of Union Carbide Corporation and Dow Chemical, revision of official death and injury figures used to determine compensation, sustained pensions for widows and survivors with chronic illnesses, an independent scientific assessment and clean-up of contaminated soil and groundwater, and reinstatement of the Empowered Commission to coordinate long-term rehabilitation.

Survivor groups say that after four decades, there is still no independent scientific consensus on the scale of contamination, compensation remains inadequate and uneven, medical treatment continues to be largely symptomatic rather than research-based, intergenerational health impacts remain unaddressed, and accountability mechanisms have weakened rather than strengthened.

When The Wire contacted the BJP at its Delhi headquarters and also at the party's Bhopal office for comments, it said that the party will issue a formal response to the allegations in the chargesheet.  However, no such response has been issued so far.

Survivor organisations stated that they would continue advocacy through legal, administrative, and public mechanisms. The groups emphasised that the purpose of the chargesheet is to document political responsibility across timelines and compel institutional action rather than memorialise grievances.

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