The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Friday (November 28, 2025) called for an immediate, detailed debate in Parliament on air pollution, and a strict action plan to tackle the "health emergency".
Mr. Gandhi said that he met with a group of mothers who shared with him how their children are exhausted, scared and angry as they are growing up breathingthe toxic air in Delhi. Taking to X, he wrote "Modi ji, India's children are choking in front of us. How can you stay silent? Why does your government show no urgency, no plan, no accountability?" He added that our children "deserve clean air - not excuses and distractions".
The call for a debate comes ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament and at a time when several parts of north India, the National Capital Region in particular, is under a blanket of smog, with doctors warning of adverse health complications. Mr. Gandhi met with a group of mothers at his residence and shared video snippets of the interaction in which they questioned why air pollution has never been declared an emergency despite having such adverse impact on health.
"Small children are falling prey to lung diseases, heart conditions, and mental illnesses due to the toxic air. But even amidst such a terrifying national disaster, the Modi government is sitting idle with folded hands - and time is slipping rapidly from our grasp," Mr. Gandhi said in his post on X after the interaction. He said that India needed an immediate serious discussion and decisive action on this - "so that our children do not have to struggle even for clean air, but instead grow up in an India that provides them with health, safety, and the full sky to rise and shine".
In the video, the former Congress president can be seen telling the concerned mothers that the reason there is pollution is because there are stakeholders who benefit from the pollution. "To put it bluntly they are more powerful than you are," he said.
Protests in capital
Delhi has seen protests from civilians over the past few weeks, demanding steps to tackle the air pollution. Currently, the Air Quality Index is in the upper end of the "very poor" category, which can cause respiratory illness on prolonged exposure. It has improved slightly from the "severe" category that it entered on November 11 that affects healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing diseases.
Earlier this month, the Delhi government experimented with cloud seeding to create artificial rain to solve the problem but the trials did not provide the expected results.
Every winter, air pollution spikes in Delhi-NCR and many parts of the larger Indo-Gangetic Plains, mainly due to meteorological factors such as lower wind speeds and a drop in temperature. Pollution from stubble burning during October and November and bursting of firecrackers during the festive season worsen air quality and add to the emissions from vehicles and dust.