By Abhishek Jha:
Sofia Ashraf, who shot to fame with her rap on Hindustan Unilever’s thermometer manufacturing unit at Kodaikanal, has now come up with a new video titled ‘DOW Vs. Bhopal | A Toxic Rap Battle’. The video ends with a request to the viewers to sign a petition to the United States government asking it to “serve notice upon Dow to attend court in Bhopal on July 13, 2016”. The petition says that “US protection of UCC and Dow must end.” And since the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has previously held British Petroleum accountable for an oil spill in Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 workers; the department’s reluctance, in this case, suggests that it does not care for disasters where American citizens are not involved.
Dow Chemicals which acquired Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) in 2001 has been evading summons of the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court in Bhopal since July 2013. UCC faces criminal charges in connection with the 1984 Bhopal gas leak disaster. At the last hearing in December 2015, Dow was served a show cause notice, and summons was sent through the Ministry of External Affairs. Reports suggest that the DoJ has since then not been of much assistance in bringing the company to court.
Sofia Ashraf told Firstpost that the petition is important because it is being made to the US government. However, it still needs some 62,000 signatures by June 14. Looks like Ashraf’s powerful rap video, which slams Dow and also the US government for supporting it, might just get those signatures for it.
