Jan 27, 2012, 13:48 GMT
New Delhi - The Indian Olympic Association Friday renewed its demand that the London Olympics remove Dow Chemical Company as the sponsor of the upcoming Games.
The body shot off a letter to the International Olympic Association and the London Games organizing committee chief Sebastian Coe feeling 'vindicated' by the resignation of the Games watchdog panel member Meredith Alexander over the sponsorship deal.
Alexander quit the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 Thursday, protesting against the sponsorship with Dow which is linked with the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster which left at least 3,000 people dead.
'There is no need to carry this toxic legacy,' IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra said in a statement.
In the letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge, Malhotra said there was growing world opinion against the sponsorship and Alexander's resignation was a vindication of the IOA's stand.
'I am sure that you are well aware of the growing opposition to this sponsorship world over with NGOs (non-governmental organizations) intellectuals like Noam Chomsky, Members of British Parliament and civil society openly coming out against it,' he wrote in the letter.
'Ms Meredith Alexander echoed, our position/stand, when she said the organisers 'are falsely legitimizing Dow's assertion that they have no responsibility for the Bhopal tragedy',' Malhotra said.
'On behalf of the IOA, I again urge you to take steps to remove Dow as sponsor and settle the matter as early as possible. We are waiting for your response to our communications,' stated Malhotra.
Michigan-baed Dow which took over the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal in 2001 has asserted it could not be linked to the tragedy.
The company said it never owned or operated the Bhopal plant and that all liabilities over the disaster had been settled before it acquired Union Carbide, broadcaster CNN-IBN reported.
The London Olympics organizers have so far defended the 11-million-dollar sponsorship deal.
Survivors of the tragedy have expressed hope that Alexander's resignation will prompt the Indian government to express its opposition to Dow Chemical's sponsorship more effectively.
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