The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hit back at the BJP government, calling out its Environment Minister for hiding his failure to control Delhi’s severe Diwali pollution by defaming Sikh farmers of Punjab. The party’s Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj pointed out that the BJP, unable to clean Delhi’s air, is now blaming those who would never conspire against Diwali — calling such allegations both shameful and sinful. He warned that by lying about air and Yamuna pollution and hiding data from Delhiites, the BJP is playing with people’s lives — and its truth will soon be exposed.
Rebutting the press conference held by BJP’s Delhi government minister, Saurabh Bharadwaj stated, “The reporters asked about the AAP saying that the night-time pollution data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) — the live data from many stations — was not available, it had gone missing. The minister did not give a direct answer to that. I will tell the minister and the government that they should put that data in the public domain because the public has a right to know that data.”
On the discrepancy between government figures and people’s phone readings, Saurabh Bharadwaj continued, “There was a big difference between the government’s data and the data that many of us had on our phones. The difference was so large that if the government’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was showing 400, many people’s data was showing up to 1,700. The government should explain why there is such a difference.”
Explaining why the discrepancy matters for health, he added “This is serious because after COVID-19 there are many people — lakhs of people in Delhi — who have respiratory problems: even a small rise in pollution causes them breathing difficulty and a feeling of suffocation. You may immediately have to give them oxygen or take them to hospital. If, as a government, you give them false data, they might look at the government’s false numbers and go out to work today, and their condition might dramatically worsen because of that — it could even be fatal.”
“In the same way, regarding the Yamuna’s pollution, the minister said they went to the Yamuna, applied the chemical that is used to remove the foam and announced that pollution had been eliminated. Understand the seriousness of this: this is not a joke. Because of one false statement from you, lakhs of Purvanchali women, taking small children, might go into the Yamuna; they might drink that polluted water; their health could deteriorate so badly that the lives of small children could be at risk. You cannot tell such a lie — you must understand your responsibility,” he asserted.
The AAP Delhi chief further pointed out the BJP minister’s absurd claims, stating, “He also said at the press conference that Punjab’s farmers deliberately burned stubble (parali) specifically on Diwali so that there would be pollution in Delhi. What kind of claim is that? Punjab is a Sikh-majority state. No farmer, however much pressure he faces, would burn stubble to defame Diwali.”
“Sikh gurus like Guru Tegh Bahadur even gave their lives for Hindus. What kind of view does the minister hold about Sikhs? When someone told the minister that stubble-burning cases in Punjab are the lowest in the past five years — only 353 cases so far this year — the BJP minister had no answer. Punjab’s AQI is 150, Delhi’s is over 400, and yet the minister says Delhi’s pollution happened because of Punjab. Do not defame Punjab’s Sikh farmers this way; they would die, but they would not even think of committing such a filthy act to defame Hindu festivals,” he emphasised.
Appealing to the government, Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “I told the BJP government to take this a little more seriously. Governments are not run like this — you make data disappear for a day or two, but if not today, their deception will be exposed tomorrow. Therefore, do not defame Hindus, do not defame their festivals, and do not discredit governments by presenting false data.”
