Chief minister of Indian state visits Hiroshima, pledges to work for nuclear abolition
Oct. 13, 2015
by Koji Higuchi, Staff Writer
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and toured the Peace Memorial Museum on October 3. Learning the details of the tragedy wrought by the atomic bombing, Mr. Chouhan expressed his determination to work for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Guided by Kenji Shiga, the director of the museum, Mr. Chouhan studied the exhibits and photographs, including a photo of survivors taken at the west end of Miyuki Bridge shortly after the atomic bombing. Mr. Chouhan asked questions about the exhibits and read the explanations which accompany displays of scorched clothes and photos showing symptoms of acute radiation sickness, including purple spots on a victim’s face. After his tour of the museum, he placed a floral tribute at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims and visited the A-bomb Dome.
According to the museum, Mr. Chauhan is the third chief minister of a state of India, a nuclear-armed nation, to visit the facility. He said that it pains his heart to think of the suffering experienced by the victims after the bombing as well as the suffering faced by the survivors to this day. He pledged to work for the abolition of nuclear weapons and help prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again.
(Originally published on October 4, 2015)
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and toured the Peace Memorial Museum on October 3. Learning the details of the tragedy wrought by the atomic bombing, Mr. Chouhan expressed his determination to work for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Guided by Kenji Shiga, the director of the museum, Mr. Chouhan studied the exhibits and photographs, including a photo of survivors taken at the west end of Miyuki Bridge shortly after the atomic bombing. Mr. Chouhan asked questions about the exhibits and read the explanations which accompany displays of scorched clothes and photos showing symptoms of acute radiation sickness, including purple spots on a victim’s face. After his tour of the museum, he placed a floral tribute at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims and visited the A-bomb Dome.
According to the museum, Mr. Chauhan is the third chief minister of a state of India, a nuclear-armed nation, to visit the facility. He said that it pains his heart to think of the suffering experienced by the victims after the bombing as well as the suffering faced by the survivors to this day. He pledged to work for the abolition of nuclear weapons and help prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again.
(Originally published on October 4, 2015)
