Rahul Gandhi attacks govt for treating clean-air protesters like criminals

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday, 9 November, lashed out at the government after several people, including parents and environmental activists, were detained at India Gate while protesting against Delhi’s worsening air quality.

Calling it “shameful” that citizens demanding clean air were treated like criminals, Rahul Gandhi said the right to breathe clean air was a “basic human right” and the right to peaceful protest was guaranteed by the Constitution.

“The right to clean air is a basic human right. The right to peaceful protest is guaranteed by our Constitution. Why are citizens who have been peacefully demanding clean air being treated like criminals?” Rahul Gandhi asked in a post on X, responding to a message from environmentalist Vimlendu Jha, who said protesters were “taken away” and “shoved in a bus.”

The leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said the government that came to power through “vote chori” neither cares about the health of citizens nor is taking any steps to address the crisis. “Air pollution is harming crores of Indians — damaging our children and the future of our nation. We need decisive action right now, instead of attacking citizens asking for clean air,” he said.

Scores of people, many of them mothers with their children, had gathered at India Gate to demand urgent government action on air pollution. Police said several protesters were detained as they had assembled without prior permission.

Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Devesh Kumar Mahla said the detentions were preventive in nature. “Only Jantar Mantar is designated as a protest site where permission can be sought by following due procedure,” he said.

Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh on Sunday criticised the government and Delhi Police for detaining citizens protesting against worsening air pollution at India Gate, saying they were only trying to fulfil their constitutional duty.

In a post on X, Ramesh pointed out that the protest site — India Gate — stands on Kartavya Path, the very name given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The citizens of Delhi who are protesting for better air quality are only wanting to carry out their own Kartavya under Article 51-A(g) of the Constitution, which mandates them ‘to protect and improve the natural environment...’,” he said.

“So why are they being prevented by the Delhi Police from registering their desperate concern at the atrocious air quality where they live and work?” he asked.

Ramesh said it was ironic that citizens were being stopped from doing their duty when the government had “failed miserably in its own Kartavya.”

With PTI inputs