‘Hawa Ka Hisaab?’: Kharge attacks Modi on 12-year pollution record as PM2.5 data goes missing in Delhi

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP over the worsening air pollution crisis in Delhi and across north India, asking the Prime Minister to give the nation a "Hawa Ka Hisaab" — an accounting of the air it breathes.

In a post on X, Mr. Kharge accused the government of running India's air-quality response on "piecemeal measures, PR stunts, broken promises and blame games," saying these had become "the hallmark of the BJP."

The numbers Kharge cited

The Congress president laid out the toll in sharp figures.

17,188 deaths in Delhi in 2023 were "estimated to be attributable to particulate air pollution — nearly 15% of all deaths," he said, attributing the figure to GBD and CREA research covering all ages.

1,69,400 children under five died from air-pollution-related causes across India in 2021, according to the State of Global Air 2024 report Mr. Kharge cited. He added that research has linked PM2.5 exposure to impaired lung development and elevated child-mortality risks, particularly across northern states.

₹1,154 crore — nearly 60% of Delhi's environmental compensation collections — remained unspent, according to a September 2026 RTI response Mr. Kharge quoted. Delhi, he said, had utilised merely 17% of its National Clean Air Programme funds released through December 2025.

'PM2.5 readings simply vanished'

The Congress president accused the central government of paper-thin monitoring. "Last year, water tankers were spraying around AQI monitoring stations amid allegations of 'washing away' the pollution figures," Mr. Kharge said. "This year, as pollution peaked, PM2.5 readings simply vanished from 36 of Delhi's 59 monitoring stations."

He said Prime Minister Modi had identified air pollution as a "major challenge" on 8 May 2019 but, in the twelve years since taking office, had "only done lip-service to the issue."

Supreme Court intervention

Mr. Kharge noted that the Supreme Court has given BJP-ruled Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan two weeks to submit detailed responses and proposed measures to tackle the pollution crisis.

From Delhi-NCR to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, Mr. Kharge said, "people are gasping for clean air."

'Clean air is a fundamental right'

The Congress president closed with a three-line demand: "Spend the funds. Cut emissions. Enforce the rules."

"Clean air is a fundamental right," Mr. Kharge said, "not a privilege to be granted by the Government."

The toxic haze that settles over Delhi and large parts of north India each year between October and February has become a recurring political flashpoint. Opposition parties have blamed the Union government for policy inaction, while ruling parties in affected states have traded accusations with neighbouring governments over stubble burning, construction dust and vehicle emissions.

Source: Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) on X — statement issued via the Indian National Congress press release channel.