GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 21st Oct: The morning after Diwali brought not only a thick layer of smog over the national capital but also a renewed political confrontation between the ruling BJP and the Opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). With Delhi’s air quality plunging to the “serious” category overnight, the AAP accused the BJP government of failing to control pollution, alleging fudging of air quality data and inaction against illegal firecracker sales.
The BJP, hitting back, charged AAP with defaming Diwali for political gain. Delhi’s Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa launched a scathing attack, saying, “Their aim is to defame Diwali. Who are the religious people forcing them to make this statement? Why would any common man speak against any religion?”
Sirsa also targeted Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, accusing it of being “anti-Diwali.” He claimed, “Akhilesh-ji also has only one purpose — to get votes by driving Hindus away. What did he say? ‘Christmas should be celebrated like Diwali.’ How can you say Diwali should be celebrated that way? No lamps, no worship — that’s unacceptable.”
For AAP, this marks a political opportunity to corner the BJP, particularly after its own failure to address Delhi’s pollution and the Yamuna crisis — key issues that contributed to its electoral setback earlier this year.
Responding to AAP’s charges, Sirsa questioned the party’s credibility, stating, “Those who have been running the government for ten years and are now raising questions should be booked. We didn’t bring the problem; they left it behind.”
Dismissing allegations of data manipulation, Sirsa said the real factor affecting Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was the dust-sweeping drive. On AAP’s demand for cloud seeding, he quipped, “There have to be clouds first — only then can they be seeded.”
As the smog thickens over Delhi, the blame game between the two political rivals seems set to intensify, marking the unofficial start of the pollution season and political season in the capital.
