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Fight Ain't Done, Says Rap Artist Sofia Ashraf In 'DOW Vs Bhopal Toxic Rap Battle'

Fight Ain't Done, Says Rap Artist Sofia Ashraf In 'DOW Vs Bhopal Toxic Rap Battle'
Sofia Ashraf

'The fight ain't done', says Chennai-born rap artist Sofia Ashraf of the 'Kodaikanal Won't' fame, in her new video about the struggle of victims of the Bhopal gas Tragedy and fixing of blame in one of the world's worst industrial disasters.

Titled 'Toxic Rap Battle: DOW Vs. Bhopal', Ashraf's video is an appeal to fix responsibility for the leak of around 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas from a pesticide factory owned by U.S. multinational Union Carbide Corp in the early hours of Dec. 3, 1984.

The government had recorded 5,295 deaths. Activists estimate 25,000 deaths from illnesses since the leak.

'Whose side are you on?', Ashraf asks as she goes on to rap both sides of the argument.

"What's this fuss about? We bought UC not its liabilities," she speaks for Dow.

On her YouTube page is also a link to a petition to the US White House telling them to stop shielding Dow Chemical from its corporate crimes in Bhopal.

In June, Ashraf's rap set to the tune of Nicky Minaj’s hit song ‘Anaconda’, was released as a petition against Unilever. In the video Ashraf lambasts the Anglo-Dutch company for failing to clean up the toxic mercury contamination.

Ashraf told the Hindu the toxic rap battle was put together after a petition to the White House was not gathering enough signatures. “The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), who started the petition, approached me after they realised the petition wasn’t moving fast enough. We had a small window of opportunity, so we had to move fast,” she said.

Watch the video here.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.