India may boycott London Olympics 2012
Shivraj Singh Chauhan, a state level Chief Minister from India, has recently asked for a boycott of the London 2012 Olympic Games. This demand has been made against the fact that the Olympic Games is working with the sponsorship of the Dow Chemical company.
The Chief Minister wants to see the sponsorship ended otherwise he thinks it necessary not to send any of India’s athletes to the Games next year.
The demand to end the contract with Dow Chemicals has been made because the company was involved in a tragedy that occurred in the country some decades ago which resulted in the death of hundreds of Indian citizens. Dow Chemicals had to compensate by monetary
means but the corporation has failed to pay off its liabilities up to this point and still continues to do business successfully while the families of the victims are suffering till now.
The incident that took place was because of a gas leak that is categorised as one of the world’s worst industrial disasters up to this point. The gas leak did not only cause the deaths of people on the same day, the deaths continued to take place for several
days after the leak took place. As a result of the side effects of the leak, more than 3000 people lost their lives. However, the story did not end there and the deaths continued to occur later on as well. It is estimated that a total of 15,000 people have
passed away due to the disaster that occurred in Bhopal in previous decades.
The chief minister who has made the demand is Shivraj Singh Chauhan and he has demanded the boycott from the Sports Minister Ajay Maken, by sending him a letter.
Where such negative sentiment prevalent in India, the chairman of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Lord Coe, has taken the side of the Dow Chemicals, saying "that at no time did Dow operate, own or were involved with the plant either at the time of the [1984]
disaster or crucially at the time of the full and final settlement.”
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