Remind the Public As To What Made Keshub Mahindra Decline the Padma Bhushan Award 2002 - Letter to the Editor

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

To:
The Editor,
Mainstream Weekly,
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/

16 April 2023

This is to draw your kind attention to an article that was re-published in India Today on 13th April 2023 titled “Why Keshub Mahindra declined the Padma Bhushan”. The said article was reportedly first published in the Business Today edition dated 31st March 2002. The said article has attempted to project Keshub Mahindra as a “gentleman”, who did not want to embarrass the Government by accepting the Padma Bhushan award in 2002 since he was one of the accused in the Bhopal disaster criminal case. Indeed, if that was the case, Keshub Mahindra should have declined the award immediately after the announcement had been made in this regard. However, that did not happen.

On the contrary, Keshub Mahindra was compelled to decline the award only after the Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sanghthan and the Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti had launched a sustained campaign against the decision of the Government of India to confer an award on an accused against whom the Government of India itself had initiated criminal proceedings. As a result, Justice Krishna Iyer (Rtd.) took the initiative in writing a letter to President K.R.Narayanan with a request to delete the name of Keshub Mahindra from the list of awardees, since Keshub Mahindra was facing trial at that time as Accused No.2 responsible for the Bhopal gas leak disaster that killed several thousands of people and inflicted injuries in varying degree to over 550,000 others. Please publicize these facts in wider public interest.

Regards,

N.D.Jayaprakash,
Co-Convener,
Bhopal Gas Peedith Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti,
C/o Delhi Science Forum, Khasra No.275, West End Road,
Said-ul-ajaib, New Delhi – 110030
jaypdsf[at]gmail.com