India must shed its diffidence and remind the US that moral authority cannot rest with those who trade human lives for geopolitical gain.
A week after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, India marks the anniversary of another tragedy: the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, one of the world’s worst industrial catastrophes, caused by a US company. On the same day in 1971, after months of dealing with an enormous humanitarian crisis triggered by mass killings of East Pakistani civilians by the US-backed Pakistani military regime, India was ultimately thrust into war.
As India faces the consequences of weaponised US intelligence and judicial apparatus, alongside the US-installed regime in Bangladesh freeing terrorists and persecuting religious minorities, particularly Hindus, it is crucial to revisit the dark legacy of US-enabled mass murders that India endured, and which the US has shrugged off.
BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY, 1984
On the night of 2nd-3rd December 1984, an accident at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) plant in Bhopal, a subsidiary of the US-based Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), released deadly Methyl Isocyanate gas, instantly killing around 3,000 people. In 1989, victims received USD 470 million in compensation from UCC—a paltry sum for a disaster that is estimated to have cost over 22,000 lives, injured over 500,000, and has had an ongoing impact in terms of health, congenital disorders and environmental issues.
When Dow Chemical acquired UCC in 2001, it absolved itself of all responsibility. While Dow set aside USD 2.2 billion for UCC’s asbestos workers in Texas, a Dow spokesperson remarked, “USD 500 is plenty good for an Indian.”
Interestingly, in 1999, UCC falsely claimed in a disclosure related to the Dow merger that there were no ongoing legal actions. However, in 1992, an Indian court had declared the company an absconder, with the judicial proclamation published in the Washington Post. This raises serious concerns about the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s wilful disregard for the truth.
All along, the US went to great lengths to support Union Carbide. First, the industrial licence, which had been stalled in India since 1970 due to outdated machinery, was approved in 1975 during the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi, with extensive involvement from the US Embassy. The US had no qualms about engaging with a regime that had crushed democracy, jailed opposition leaders, and silenced the media.
Second, after the leak, the US Embassy in Delhi secured “safe passage” for UCC CEO Warren Anderson, who never returned to India to face trial. The US did not investigate potential corruption related to UCIL’s operations, Anderson’s escape, or the delayed extradition requests. This, given that “greasing” was almost unavoidable to acquire the necessary permissions or, for that matter, to escape accountability for an industrial disaster. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), in effect since 1977, and recently in news concerning the Adani group, was not utilised.
Third, when India sent the extradition request, the US rejected it despite overwhelming evidence of negligence. UCC’s influence on the US government was clear from the start. Henry Kissinger, as Secretary of State, sent a cable to the US Embassy in November 1975 about the plant’s financing. Unsurprisingly, UCC hired Kissinger Associates for Bhopal crisis management, and Kissinger and the US government both pressured India to settle. A month after the 1989 settlement, Lawrence Eagleburger, head of Kissinger Associates, became Deputy Secretary of State, and later Secretary of State, with UCC providing a glowing reference. It is said that India’s investigative agency was asked to back off from pursuing UCC during his tenure. Vernon Jordan, a key adviser to President Clinton, was on the UCC board. The US saw no conflict of interest, ethical violations, or possible misuse of power in any of it.
Fourth, reports suggested UCIL was experimenting with chemicals for wartime use, but neither the US nor the Indian government addressed this, never mind the transparency the US so often professes.
Fifth, the US judiciary dismissed all Bhopal-related cases, invoking the forum non conveniens doctrine, which allows the dismissal of cases if another forum (India) is deemed more appropriate. The US administration, for its part, blocked attempts to hold UCC accountable. In contrast, after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, President Obama insisted British Petroleum be held fully accountable, accusing them of “nickel-and-diming” victims, and made BP pay USD 20 billion for the deaths of 11 Americans and significant environmental damage.
Lastly, many Bhopal victims were Dalits and Muslims—groups the US claims to champion. However, the US has shown no concern for their lives or rights.
As of 31st July 2024, nearly 600 Bhopal disaster cases remain pending in India; but the world’s most powerful nation, complicit in violating the rights of half a million Indians who suffered in the Bhopal tragedy, continues to block their attempts to seek justice and fair compensation.
THE U.S.-ENABLED GENOCIDE IN EAST PAKISTAN, 1971
Thirteen years before the Bhopal disaster, India witnessed a chilling example of the US government’s blatant disregard for principles and humanity. On 25th March 1971, Pakistan’s military dictator, General Yahya Khan, ordered a violent crackdown on the Bengali nationalist movement. The ensuing months saw a bloodbath in East Pakistan by West Pakistani forces armed with made-in-America weapons. Death toll estimates range from half to three million, with unspeakable atrocities against women and children.
On 6th April 1971, Archer Blood, the US Consul General in Dacca (Dhaka), dispatched a dissent cable: “Our government has failed to denounce the suppression of democracy. Our government has failed to denounce atrocities…Our government has evidenced what many will consider moral bankruptcy…” The cable, known as The Blood Telegram, cost him his career; he was recalled, and US President Richard Nixon and NSA Kissinger dismissed him as “a maniac.”
The US Ambassador to India informed the White House that after the first few weeks, the situation was “almost entirely a matter of genocide killing the Hindus.” But Hindu lives did not matter to the US. Meanwhile, the US sent at least ten ships with military cargo to Pakistan after the 25th of March, violating its own ban, and remained the only Western nation supplying military aid to Pakistan by July 1971. Let me emphasise this: the US continued to send weapons to Pakistan while Yahya carried out genocide in East Pakistan. This is why it sounds ludicrous when the US moralises about India buying oil from Russia amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
India was caught in a difficult situation, one that was emotionally and geographically close to home. The killings of Hindus had direct domestic implications. On the one hand, India had to manage the influx of millions of refugees, straining its fragile economy, and on the other, it faced animosity from the US for not ignoring the crisis as an internal matter of Pakistan. The US was so displeased with India that the world’s most powerful leader wished for a famine to kill Indians and addressed India’s female Prime Minister in unflattering terms. On 3rd December, when Nixon was informed about the Pakistan Air Force’s attack on the Indian bases, his reaction was, “Pakistan thing makes your heart sick. For them to be done so by the Indians and after we have warned the bitch (Indira).”
The US took several morally repugnant, unprincipled and illegal decisions to support Pakistan. The most reckless was deploying its nuclear aircraft carrier to the Bay of Bengal, bringing the world dangerously close to a superpower confrontation, with the Soviets backing India. This unnerved even US allies. The Canadian high commissioner to India warned it would likely increase Soviet and Chinese involvement. Australia’s Foreign Affairs Secretary called it “an act of egregious stupidity.” The recent decision by the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to use US long-range missiles against Russia, prompting a nuclear warning from Moscow, shows that the US continues to engage in acts of “egregious stupidity” regardless of who is in power.
In 1971, between a non-aligned democracy and an ally nation ruled by a military dictator responsible for mass atrocities, the US chose the latter, pushing India closer to the Soviet Union. Yahya Khan was playing a key role in Nixon’s secret outreach to Beijing, causing the US to overlook the carnage. American callousness towards the plight of East Pakistani Hindus was evident when, after his covert trip to China from Islamabad, Kissinger joked, “The cloak-and-dagger exercise in Pakistan arranging the trip was fascinating. Yahya hasn’t had such fun since the last Hindu massacre!” The US President’s desire to make history with China came at a profound human cost in East Pakistan and a heavy toll on India, which had to accommodate millions of refugees and fight a war with Pakistan. Ironically, the US now seeks India as a democratic counterbalance to China.
CONCLUSION
The past should not shackle the future; however, if we fail to learn from history, we are condemned to relive it. Just as US military aid to Pakistan continued in 1971, it persisted as Pakistan sent terrorists to kill civilians in India, including after the 26/11 attacks. Just as the US ignored the genocide of East Pakistani Hindus in 1971, it is now turning a blind eye to Hindu persecution in Bangladesh under a US-backed regime. The US’ cold calculation of pursuing interests at all costs is its fundamental trait, directly contradicting its self-proclaimed commitment to democracy, human rights, and the international order.
Narendra Modi (visa denial), Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi (summons), Devyani Khobragade (arrest), and Gautam Adani (indictment)—American overreach knows no bounds. It is a disservice to the nation that, even in the face of blatant external interference, Indians remain divided.
India may not be perfect, but it has not enabled genocide abroad or waged wars that have radicalised and killed millions. Indian businesses have not caused mass deaths or engaged in foreign regime change operations. It is, therefore, absurd for India to allow the US to judge or lecture it on human rights and democracy, or to let the US target Indian businesses and citizens, especially when the US is stained with the blood of innocent Indians.
India must shed its diffidence and remind the US that moral authority cannot rest with those who trade human lives for geopolitical gain. When the incoming Trump administration focuses on swachh (clean) America, India must make the most of it by seizing the narrative as the world’s largest democracy, a rising power, and the voice of the Global South. India owes it to itself and the developing world.
* Semu Bhatt is a strategic adviser, author, and founder of FuturisIndia.