New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) The Congress said Monday it hoped the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the Bhopal gas leak case would look at the legal provisions to enhance the punishment of those responsible for such disasters.

“I am not in a position to speak about the mandate of the GoM, but the Congress hopes that in the light of the new facts about the tragedy of this proportion, it will examine the provisions of law,” party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said here.

She said that punishment in the Bhopal gas case had been the same as for a traffic accident and this had agitated people.

“Certainly, people feel disturbed that the accused in this heinous tragedy have been let off with less punishment. No matter what the procedure of law and the judgment of the honourable Supreme Court have been, we do expect that the GoM will go into these issues.”

Asked if a chief minister can release an accused like Warren Anderson, then Union Carbide chairman, without clearance from the prime minister, the Congress spokesperson said the GoM had been constituted by the government to look into various issues. “We expect the GoM to bring all the facts to light.”

Senior Congress leader Arjun Singh was the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh during the December 1984 Bhopal gas leak tragedy and is under fire for having allowed Anderson to leave Bhopal. The Congress government at the centre then was headed by Rajiv Gandhi.

Referring to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the release of Anderson, she termed it a “cheap and blatant attempt to divert attention from the pathetic debacle of the national executive of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) held in Patna.”

“Due to the divisive, disruptive and communal brand of politics practiced by leaders like Narendra Modi, the BJP has alienated, not just its coalition allies resulting in the collapse of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance), but also finds itself alienated from the people of India,” she said.

Natarjan said Modi should apologise to the nation “for playing a fraud upon the people of Bihar, as well as the minority community in Azamgarh, for falsely depicting picture of girls from Shibli College Azamgarh as an example of the progress of the minority community in Gujarat.”

She said the BJP had a great deal to answer for in the Bhopal case and should explain what steps were taken by the NDA government for extradition of Anderson.