Minister Blames Punjab for Delhi Pollution
The minister claimed that while AAP leaders "condemned the Delhi CM, the BJP and Sanatan Dharm followers over festival celebrations", the real reason behind the worsening air quality was large-scale stubble burning in Punjab
New Delhi: A day after the surge in Delhi-NCR’s AQI on Diwali night, a war of words broke out between the ruling BJP and the AAP, with the two accusing each other of deliberately spoiling the pollution parameters and playing with people’s health. While Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa accused the AAP government of Punjab of forcing farmers to burn crop residue to send pollution levels up in the city, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj blamed the nexus between the Delhi government and the “firecracker lobby” for the worsening air quality in the city and its neighbourhood.
Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav claimed Mr Sirsa can’t deny that AQI has reached 400 by distorting the pollution data, which shows the failure of the BJP government. He said despite repeated warnings of sharply rising air pollution, the BJP could not take stringent steps to control pollution.
Addressing the media, Mr Sirsa accused the AAP of “playing religion politics” and claimed that while AAP leaders “condemned the Delhi CM, BJP and Sanatan Dharm followers over festival celebrations”, the real reason behind the worsening air quality was large-scale stubble burning in Punjab. He said every religion has the right to celebrate its festival, indicating that bursting of crackers is an indispensable way of celebrating Diwali.
Mr Sirsa stressed that despite the lifting of the ban on green firecrackers this year, Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) rose only marginally, from 345 before Diwali to 356 the next morning, an increase of “just 11 points”. Last year, it increased by 32 units and in 2023 by 83 units, he pointed out. “This little increase of just 11 points was observed this year even though it was reported that the highest number of stubble-burning incidents occurred last night,” he said, showing videos purportedly of the burning of crop residue in Punjab.
“Will the AAP challenge the sacrifice of goats on Id by our Muslim community? I urge (AAP chief) Arvind Kejriwal not to play religious politics. You can fight with us, but do not drag religion into it,” the BJP leader said. “We have respected the sentiments of the masses and brought true equality among religions. Every religion has the right to celebrate its festival,” he said.
Delhi home minister Ashish Sood said that cracker-bursting was not the sole reason behind pollution in the national capital and that the “incidents” happening in neighbouring states also impacted the city's air quality. He also said those who burst firecrackers beyond 10 pm on Diwali behaved “irresponsibly”.
However, the AAP’s Mr Bharadwaj sought to know from the BJP-led government in Delhi why it did not take steps to induce artificial rain to bring the situation under control. He also alleged that banned firecrackers were burst during Diwali and questioned if the Delhi government was “hand in glove” with the firecracker manufacturing lobby. The AAP leader also claimed that no air quality index (AQI) data on Diwali night was available and held the BJP responsible for it.
Hitting back, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva accused AAP leaders, including Mr Bharadwaj, of indulging in “appeasement politics to secure their minority vote bank” by pinning the blame of nose-diving air quality on Diwali and firecracker bursting. “That is why they continue to spread confusion among the public on one issue or another. Currently, AAP leaders are making statements blaming the rise in pollution on firecrackers and are calling for another ban on them,” he said.
“Successive Congress and Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP governments did no concrete work to control pollution or improve the situation. Now, when the Rekha Gupta-led BJP government is working in a planned manner to improve the situation, AAP leaders -- experts in making statements -- are actively trying to derail it,” Mr Sachdeva claimed.
AAP leaders hit out, alleging that banned firecrackers were openly burst alongside the “so-called green ones”. “Delhi’s AQI on my phone app is showing at 600. I have no idea what the BJP government has done to cause this. But the fact remains that the chief minister herself does not even know how to correctly pronounce AQI -- yet she keeps talking about IQ, AIQ, and other such terms. She simply lacks that understanding,” Mr Bharadwaj charged.
