Hockey stars decry DOW move to sponsor Olympics

BHOPAL/CHENNAI: Twenty two former national and Olympic hockey stars have come together demanding DOW Chemical Co, held responsible for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, should not be allowed to sponsor the London Olympics next year.

Dow Chemical Company is to fund and construct the fabric wrap around the Olympic Stadium in east London. The company will also be an Olympic partner with the IOC and will support the Games for the next 10 years.

Addressing the media on Monday, Hockey veterans Inam-ur-Rehman, B P Govinda, Syed Ali and Jalaluddin Rizvi said the Indian Olympic Association (IOC) owed an explanation about why it has not yet urged the International Olympic Association to keep DOW off the sponsors list.

They said the current plight of the victims and the environment catastrophe caused by the tragedy still remained to haunt the country, and DOW being allowed to sponsor the Olympics was offensive to the spirit of the Olympics games. “If DOW is to be allowed to sponsor the Olympics, it should first take charge of the victims and clean up the poisons it has left over in the city,” Govinda said.

“DOW as sponsor of the games would undermine the very spirit of the Olympics,” said Syed Ali, who had come from Lucknow in support of the Bhopal victims.

The Hockey stars accused both the IOA and the Indian government of “deliberate inaction” in the issue, and the gas victims’ organisations echoed it.

“It is now three months since we had requested the Prime Minister and the Acting Chairman of the Indian Olympic Committee to register the country’s opposition to Dow Chemicals as a sponsor of the London Olympics. But neither has moved on this.” said Rashida Bee of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh.

Satinath Sarangi of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said the silence of the Indian government is annoying for the victims , especially while some 40 British MPs are vocally opposing DOW’s sponsorship of the games

Incidentally, Hockey progressively withered in Bhopal after the tragedy, a city that had contributed 14 Hockey Olympians and 36 international players. The deadly gas also cut short many careers, like of Salim Abbassi , who was tipped to be another Olympic potential.

“I was in my prime when the tragedy took place. I never recovered from the gas effects,” said Abbasi, who had played for India in the qualifiers for the Moscow Olympics. ‘