Delhi Pollution: Alas, It’s Vote Bank Behind the ‘Air Emergency’!

Elitist mindset and vote-bank politics is to be blamed for the Delhi pollution, writes Ravina Raj Kohli

A woman wears a mask during a demonstration against rising pollution levels in Delhi on 6 November 2016. (Photo: IANS/ Altered by The Quint)

I called the number given on the AAP website for my local MLA, Saurabh Bhardwaj, to seek an appointment. I was asked what it was concerning. “Air pollution.” Phone disconnected.

This was posted on Facebook by Priya Kapoor on 2 November this year. It was the outraged and frustrated voice of a citizen of Delhi who pays her taxes, is socially responsible and respects the environment.

Clearly, her MLA doesn’t.

It was this post that galvanised me personally into action for 6 November when we took to the streets of Delhi to voice solidarity and help ourselves and our children breathe. No one else was going to.

We are but the AAM janta. We voted these people in. Mistake. I am hereby voting these people out on my ballot. NOTA. But these are my personal views.

#MyRightToBreathe is a people’s movement against polluted air. It has no sponsors, only well wishers. It is devoid of any political agenda. By no means is our petition to the Chief Justice of India and President a comprehensive analysis of why Delhi is choking. Or what action needs to be taken. But it’s a start.

(Photo: IANS/ Altered by The Quint)

Need to Change Attitude

The clear message we sent out on a smoggy Sunday stage at Jantar Mantar was this: The laws exist, the knowledge exists, the authority exists, the will doesn’t. So here we are, citizens united, telling you leaders (who are so busy elsewhere) that we will overcome and rise above you since you refuse to rise to the occasion. (I must quickly caveat this by saying that all our superbusy netas immediately went into a huddle while our masked children were speaking at the protest and some action has since been taken. They shut schools. Oh dear, they had to. And finally, even shut the Badarpur plant that’s one of those Yamdoots that choke Delhi every year.)

Some more action is intended. Let’s see if it happens. We are holding our breaths.

It was also time to realise that more than anything, our own attitudes need to to be addressed.

A majority of the ‘haves’ of this city think it elevates their social status when they discuss how the large homes they have built have flouted environmental norms. “Meri baat ho gayi thi”. When their fast expensive cars make our lungs go up in smoke, they think it’s someone else’s doing. “Saala tum apna khatara becho pehle”.

When it’s time for firecrackers it’s fashionable to dole out the bucks to the ‘staff’ to go lagao patakas. “Ja. Enjoy kar. Diwali hai.”

(Photo: IANS/ Altered by The Quint)

Urban Class and Pollution Control

Taking the metro? “Are you crazy? It’s so smelly!”

A CNG cab? “Kyon? Gaadi nahin hai kya?”

“Put on the Genset, yaar. I don’t want my make-up to run with the sweat.”

It’s in our blood. Our ‘culture’. Our stinking classist thinking. Its rotten behaviour we have seen in the movies in the seventies. Its dialogues we repeat from our heroes and yes, villains. And the stuff Kapil Sharma and Pammi Aunty make us laugh about. It’s the attitude of the rich and famous, aped by the growing working class.

Firecrackers were a major source of pollution in the days following Diwali. (Photo: Rahul Gupta/The Quint)

Vote-Bank Politics

It’s the lack of jobs outside the metropolises that have created illegal housing colonies. Vote bank. It’s the trucks that destroy our roads, even though they could be diverted. Votes. It’s the farmers who burn their stubble instead of turning their soil; the stubble could be plucked, condensed, collected and reused as compost, but they have been so busy spraying it with poisonous fertilisers, they must burn their tracks. Who is going to bell the cat? Farmers are a vote bank jackpot.

The Delhi high court has already directed Punjab, Haryana and UP to ensure preventive measures are put into place with farmers. Nope. There’s an election coming up. Who cares about the air? Let’s create Vote Pollution too while we are at it.

(Photo: IANS/ Altered by The Quint)

Go Green, Go Get a Life

The Pollution Control Board must be really fed up. No one listens. Activists in Delhi are put into the C class guest category at a gathering. ( “Jhola types, yaar”). Their names should precede the CM’s at a shaadi, but no, they are nothing but shrill voices on the wrong FM channel. Delhiites would rather have a C grade Bollywood-type around than someone who tells them to Go Green. Go get a life!

‘I Want to Go Out and Play’

We created this disgusting hierarchy and apathy. We are the problem. We must become the solution. If we vote people in who only want votes, who won’t enforce laws, who won’t answer calls, who won’t respect our right to breathe clean air, they have no right being our leaders. Step down and step into the smog. You clearly can’t smell the coffee.

A four-year-old boy at the #MyRightToBreathe protest, holding a banner larger than himself, said into the microphone, “Mr Modi, I want to go out and play”. Apart from generating collective gasps amongst the crowds there, it strengthened the voice of the protest further.

I think Mr Modi heard our little hero, because the Union Health Minister is now very busy circulating emails to the public asking for our help. Great. Come and hear us out. And then act. Or we’ll rock your vote over.

By the way, Mr Bhardwaj hasn’t called Priya Kapoor yet. She’s waiting.

(Ravina Raj Kohli is a media professional. She can be reached at @ravinarajkohli. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)