Scores of people, including residents and children, staged a protest on Man Singh Road near India Gate on Sunday, holding placards that read “Smog se Azadi!” and “Breathing is killing me” as Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) touched 370 in the “very poor” category.
“This is a health emergency, not a blame game. Trial-and-error has failed our children. The government must deliver a clean-air policy now,” said a protester.
Photo Credit: ANI
“The rich can buy air purifiers or flee to the hills, but what about us? We have to fight every winter just to breathe,” said a protester as he waved a handmade banner reading “Hawa sarkari nahi, sabka hai.“-air isn’t government property; it belongs to everyone.
Another protester, Jyothsna Singh, told NDTV, “The poor-street vendors, auto drivers-suffer the most from road emissions caused by state buses and autos, which contribute nearly 80% of them. Vehicles are a problem, yes, but without government interventions like achieving a 50% public transport modal share by 2030, as Beijing did, how can citizens evolve? This deflection only hides policy voids.”
“Every winter I cough blood and feel chest pain, yet the government keeps blaming Punjab farmers or the last regime,” said a protesting DU student, adding, “Why won’t they fund clean alternatives instead of finger-pointing?”
“Is the AQI data by the government even true anymore?” asked another protester, Prerna Mehra. “I can’t trust it after seeing videos of water being sprayed near AQI monitoring stations the moment pollution spikes. Is someone fudging the numbers or just wasting water to fake a drop?” she said.
A 76-year-old man from Vasant Kunj, struggling to speak, pulled down his mask momentarily and said, “Governments change, but people suffer. I’m worried for my grandchildren. Construction everywhere continues unchecked, our green cover is disappearing.”
A young child held up a placard that read: “I want to stay in Delhi with my friends and go to school! Help us breathe”.
A doctor among the protesters said, “Every third child in Delhi already has damaged lungs, they’ll live nearly ten years less than kids growing up in cleaner air. Long-term exposure leads to heart disease, stroke, and asthma-it starts in the womb with low birthweight and fetal loss and haunts us into old age. The WHO says most of this is preventable, but where’s the action?”
“We had hopes and expectations from the ‘double-engine sarkar,’ but after the failed cloud seeding trial, we feel betrayed as the AQI keeps rising,” said another protester, referring to the BJP government at the Centre and in neighbouring states.
As the protest intensified, Delhi Police and paramilitary forces in riot gear moved in. Despite the demonstration being peaceful, no violence, just chants and signs, several protesters, including children, were detained. “We sought an appointment with the Chief Minister but were refused. So many parents are here because their children are suffering. This is about clean air, not politics,” said Bhavreen Kandhari, a prominent environmentalist leading the protest.
Organisers alleged persistent police pressure in the run-up to the protest-nearly 100 calls from Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) to Station House Officers (SHOs) over three days and threats of FIRs to cancel the event. DCP (New Delhi) Devesh Kumar Mahla described the detentions as “preventive measures.”
Environmental activist Vimlendu Jha condemned the crackdown. “Private monitors show AQI crossing 999 at several locations. Instead of taking concrete action, authorities shut down a peaceful protest. What are people asking for? Their right to breathe. For 15 days, nothing-no lockdown, no shutdown-just distractions like cloud seeding. It’s unfortunate,” he said.
Police justified the detentions, citing law and order concerns. “No permission was granted for a protest at India Gate,” said a senior officer. DCP Mahla said, “To maintain security, some protesters were detained. Only Jantar Mantar is designated for demonstrations with due procedure.” Delhi Police had issued orders under Section 163 of the BNSS, banning gatherings in the area.
Delhi AAP chief Saurabh Bharadwaj said Sunday’s protest had been called by members of civil society and described it as “non-political.”
“We are glad a non-political protest has been organised on an issue like pollution. Major institutions like the DPCC, CPCB, CAQM, and IMD are fudging data and manipulating figures. When a government tampers with its own data, it creates a trust deficit-and that’s why the intellectual community has taken to the streets. Pollution has existed for the last decade, but what’s alarming now is that the government is manipulating the numbers,” he said.
Delhi environment minister Manjinder Sirsa responded, “AAP has governed Delhi for ten years and poisoned its air and water, wasting money on gimmicks like the odd-even policy. In the last seven months under Rekha Gupta’s leadership, we’ve deployed smog guns in high-rises, used water sprinklers for dust mitigation, monitored construction, notified 8,000 industries to control emissions, and transitioned all buses to electric. We’re working on a war footing, but we cannot clear the air that AAP polluted in the last decade”.