Even as pollution of the Yamuna river took centre stage in the Delhi Assembly election campaign for all three main political parties, air pollution was almost absent from the political messaging.
This is despite the fact that Delhi is one of the most polluted capital cities in the world.
Yamuna is linked to Chhath Puja, a festival celebrated by the people of Purvanchal. Purvanchalis
form a major vote bank in Delhi. Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, highlighted how people are able to take a dip in Ganga and juxtaposed it with the pollution in Yamuna in Delhi, promising to clean the river.
Air pollution was almost absent from election speeches of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal and Mr. Modi, and found fleeting mentions in senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s speeches.
While the AAP manifesto did not mention air pollution at all, the BJP manifesto’s last page promised a Delhi Clean Air Mission to halve Delhi’s average Air Quality Index (AQI) by 2030. The Congress manifesto under the subhead of “pollution” has nine points for Yamuna and two for air pollution without offering a detailed solution to the problem.
AAP in its 2020 manifesto had promised to reduce air pollution by 66%, but it was completely missing from its messaging in the run-up to the 2025 election.
Last month, Mr. Kejriwal said that he could not fulfil three of his promises that he made ahead of the 2020 election, including cleaning of the Yamuna. However, air pollution did not find any mention in his speech.
“We need strong political will and support to accelerate solutions for clean air in Delhi. Elections should be fought on sectoral solutions that will help in cleaning the air and provide health benefits,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a research and advocacy organisation in Delhi.
Published – February 04, 2025 01:44 am IST