In a rare moment of convergence between the treasury and opposition benches, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday urged Parliament to move beyond blame and work together on tackling India’s worsening air pollution crisis.
His remarks came even as political tempers remained high inside and outside the Lok Sabha over recent exchanges between the Congress and the government.
Rahul Gandhi urges future-focused debate on air quality
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi said most of India’s major cities were “living under a blanket of poisonous air”, warning that children, senior citizens and other vulnerable populations were facing the worst health impacts of prolonged exposure.
“Millions of children are getting lung disease. Their future is being destroyed. People are getting cancer. Older people are struggling to breathe,” he said, stressing that air pollution was not an ideological issue and should not slip into partisan point-scoring.
He proposed reframing the discussion entirely. “I think a good idea would be that we frame the discussion not on us saying what you have not done and not on you saying what we have not done, but simply saying that what are we going to do for the people in India in the future, what are the action steps that we need to take.”
“Everybody in this House would agree that air pollution, the damage it is doing to our people, is something that we would like to cooperate on.”
Gandhi added that the House should attempt a debate on at least one issue (air pollution) “where we agree”, without engaging in a blame game.
“So I would say that it would be an interesting experiment to see if instead of you blaming us and we blaming you, we can try and say on this one issue where we agree, there’s no disagreement, there we say, listen, let us just talk about the future of people of India.”
Talking to reporters outside Parliament later, the Congress MP said, “I talked about pollution in Delhi and major cities. This is an issue in which all parties can agree. The health of our future generations is at risk… I suggested we discuss this, but instead of a blame game, we need to find a solution. We should take input from experts as well. We want to show the country that we can work together to curb pollution.”
Describing pollution as a “national emergency”, Gandhi insisted that the “debate should be productive”.
“Acrimonious debate was held on SIR and Vande Mataram, and I am glad that we absolutely destroyed them in those debates. Amit Shah was rattled. He even abused in the House. He was under a lot of pressure, and rightfully so… Such an acrimonious debate should not happen on the issue of pollution,” Gandhi told reporters.
Government says it is ready for discussion
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju reiterated that the government had been open to discussions on key national issues from “day one”.
“The government, from day one, had made our position very clear that on all important matters, the government is ready to discuss and also to find a solution, taking along the suggestions from all the members, including the principal opposition party led by Rahul Gandhi ji,” Rijiju said, adding that the government would examine the procedural framework for taking the discussion forward.
Congress reviews strategy as political sparring continues
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi chaired a review meeting with Congress Lok Sabha MPs. With 99 MPs in the Lower House, the party reportedly discussed its strategy for the ongoing session and its response to major legislative debates.