Rapper Sofia Ashraf's new song knocks the White House door for Bhopal gas tragedy victims

Rapper Sofia Ashraf who hit the headlines for her song 'Kodaikanal Won't, Kodaikanal won't ' highlighting the mercury poisoning caused in the hill station, is now back with another song 'Dow Vs Bhopal: A toxic rap battle,' this time for Bhopal gas victims.

"When you write your own content, you write stuff that you are passionate about. These are subjects that angers me a lot and that is how I wrote it. I wrote it in 2008 and there was a window of hope for this issue and that is why we were able to revive it," said Sofia

More than 500 families in Kodaikanal have been compensated for the mercury poisoning. Now her awareness video that aims at urging people to sign a petition by the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) has got over 1.20 lakh signatures. "We don't know what effect a song will have on the public. Some get really good response, while some don't. The main aim is to highlight the cause and when we get a good feedback it feels great," said Sofia, who is a freelance content creator.

She is also working on a children's book.

SUPPORT FOR THE PETITION

After the 'We the people' petition put forth by ICJB didn't get much attraction, they decided to approach Sofia hoping that it would creates a similar buzz like the Kodaikanal song. "We didn't have much time in hand so we thought we can revamp a song that I wrote eight years back. I met Director Subbu, a feature film maker, discussed the concept a whole day and the following day we completed the shoot as well," said Sofia.

Demanding Dow chemicals to be made accountable for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, 'Dow vs Bhopal: A Toxic rap battle,' is a rap going back and forth taking sides of Dow and Bhopal. At one point Sofia raps "What's all this fuss about?We bought UC, not its liabilities," while Bhopal says that the victims were given a very meagre compensation.

APPROACHED BY ICJB

When Sofia was approached by ICJB they were in need of a minimum 90,000 signature so as to meet the required one lakh signatures for the 'We the people' petition. Now, with the basic requirement completed, Sofia and team can happily wait for a response from the White House, a significant factor of the 'We the people' petition.

According to government figures, approximately 5,200 people died and thousand others have suffered permanent or partial disabilities. Thousands are still facing the effect of 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas from a pesticide factory owned by US multinational Union Carbide Corp. 'Whose side are you on?' Questions Sofia in her song.