Delhi air pollution now a full-fledged public health emergency, says AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday declared that Delhi’s worsening air pollution has reached the level of a public health emergency, accusing the BJP-led administration of ignoring the crisis while focusing on elections elsewhere.

Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the “four-engine government has ruined everything”, adding that citizens were left to protect themselves as “this government is not going to do anything for you.”

AAP leaders said that while Delhi residents are “gasping for breath”, BJP ministers have been campaigning in Bihar instead of addressing the capital’s toxic air.

Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said the situation has become unbearable for families. “The air has turned poisonous, and even ‘Warrior Moms’ – mothers fighting for their children’s right to breathe clean air – have written to the health minister. But during this health emergency, Delhi’s health minister and other BJP ministers have been busy in Bihar,” he said.

Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said the pollution crisis reflects not just an environmental failure but a political one. “Delhi is facing a full-fledged public health emergency. It is not Delhi’s air but the BJP’s mindset that has become toxic,” he wrote on X.

The AAP has repeatedly accused the BJP government of downplaying pollution levels by manipulating air quality data, an allegation denied by the BJP.

The city’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 309 (very poor) on Monday, down from 366 a day earlier, though still far above safe limits.

A day ago, AAP had accused the BJP government of staging a temporary “cleanup show” of the Yamuna ahead of Chhath Puja, alleging that the river has once again returned to its heavily polluted state within days of the festival.

AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj conducted an on-ground inspection and shared videos showing the river filled with sewage and sludge. “See the condition of the real Yamuna near the so-called cleaned-up stretch today. The river is again filled with filth and toxic waste,” Bharadwaj said, showing his foot covered in sludge after stepping into the water.

He alleged that the BJP’s claims of improvement in Yamuna’s condition before Chhath were only for optics. “The BJP boasted of a clean Yamuna before Chhath Puja, but this was just for the cameras. Once the rituals ended, the truth floated back to the surface,” Bharadwaj said.

The AAP has repeatedly accused the BJP-led administration of neglecting long-term river rejuvenation efforts while focusing only on temporary measures for festival photo-ops.

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With PTI inputs