As the air quality of Delhi plunges to record-low levels, the blame game over the responsibility has begun as chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with the Aam Aadmi Party leaders, have passed the buck on the Centre for pollution that is caused by stubble burning in Punjab.
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann had earlier this week accused the Centre of using stubble burning to tarnish farmers’ reputation even as air quality in the Delhi NCR region continued to worsen, thanks to the pollution caused by parali burning.
Arvind Kejriwal, too, joined in to back his leader and blame the Centre for the stubble-burning instances in Punjab, even though his party, Aam Aadmi Party, governs it.
Netizens, however, were not pleased with the shameful dereliction of duty by the Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal after making lofty claims of eliminating stubble burning if elected to power in Punjab.
A raft of social media users took to Twitter to dredge up the old promises and tweets posted by AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal wherein he had claimed to have discovered the solution for tackling the scourge of stubble burning that worsens air quality in and around Delhi. They have questioned the Delhi CM that if he had solutions to stubble burning, why were they not implemented in Punjab, a state governed by AAP and one that has contributed considerably to the instances of parali burning this year, causing air quality of Delhi NCR to plunge to severe levels.
Old tweets and statements by Arvind Kejriwal on parali burning go viral as Delhi air quality continues to worsen
Social media is awash with an old video of Arvind Kejriwal’s interview with Navika Kumar, where he lists down the benefits of parali and how he, with the help of research institutes in Delhi, created a chemical solution to turn parali into manures for farmers. He goes on to explain how parali could be turned into coal and gold and used in generating electricity.
Listen to Delhi CM solving Stubble problem of Punjab for free. He also has solutiong to turn Stubble into Gold. Listen pic.twitter.com/90FjT2KSbU
— Facts (@BefittingFacts) November 2, 2022
Netizens are also sharing a two-year-old tweet posted by Arvind Kejriwal wherein he says he had found a solution to the chronic issue of stubble burning. “Must watch this video. We did free spraying all over Delhi’s fields. The experiment was very successful. Congratulations to our farmers,” tweeted Kejriwal, adding that they have found a solution to deal with the problem of parali burning.
ये विडीओ ज़रूर देखें
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 28, 2020
सारी दिल्ली के खेतों में हमने फ़्री छिड़काव किया था।प्रयोग बेहद सफल रहा। हमारे किसानों को बधाई
किसान पराली जलाना नहीं चाहते। मजबूरी में जलाते हैं। मैं उम्मीद करता हूँ अब अन्य सरकारें भी इस प्रयोग को अपनायेंगी और किसानों को पराली जलाने से मुक्ति दिलायेंगी https://t.co/QpbyzEBlNx
In the same year, i.e 2020, Kejriwal posted another tweet saying that Bio-decomposer technology to treat stubble was successful in Delhi’s fields. He further added that stubble had been transformed into manure, helping farmers to do away with the stubble burning.
दिल्ली के खेतों में बायो-डिकम्पोज़र तकनीक कामयाब रही। पराली खाद में बदल गई है जिससे दिल्ली का किसान संतुष्ट भी है और खुश भी।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 4, 2020
हमारे किसान पराली जलाना नहीं चाहते। हमने उनको समाधान भी दिया है और सुविधा भी, अब दूसरे राज्यों को भी बहाने छोड़ अपने किसानों को ये सुविधा देनी चाहिए। pic.twitter.com/4mB7XK7gKK
In 2019, however, Kejriwal tweeted claiming that parali could be repurposed to produce CNG. “This will provide jobs, and additional income to farmers and solve our annual pollution problem. However, it requires all govts to come together n work on this,” Kejriwal tweeted.
I had several meetings today wid experts. It is technologically and commercially possible to convert stubble into CNG. This will provide jobs, additional income to farmers and solve our annual problem of pollution. However, it requires all govts to come together n work on this
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 6, 2019
Even as Arvind Kejriwal blamed the Centre for stubble burning, some netizens drew his attention to his old tweet where he spoke about the correlation between the instances of stubble burning with the deteriorating pollution levels in north India.
A very strong correlation can be seen between stubble burning and the spike in air pollution in North India. As soon as stubble burning began in the first week of Oct, the AQI started rising. Now that burning is coming to an end, air quality is also improving.. https://t.co/0RopC2Al5x
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 17, 2019
It is worth noting that the blame game on pollution started after the Centre rejected the AAP-led Punjab government’s demand to fund the cash incentives for farmers (for not burning stubble). As a result, the AAP government blamed the Centre for turning Delhi into a gas chamber, with several of its leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal, holding the central government in Delhi responsible for the toxic smog that engulfs the Delhi NCR region.
Arvind Kejriwal says the AAP govt in Punjab takes responsibility for stubble burning but blames the Centre for pollution caused by it in Delhi
However, netizens were quick to call out the Aam Aadmi Party for abdicating its duty after announcing “solutions” to deal with the issue of stubble burning. After fierce online backlash, Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government took complete responsibility for stubble burning and the pollution caused by it.
In a press conference along with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the AAP chief made another promise, insisting that the AAP government would be able to control the crisis within a span of a year.
“By next year, we will reduce the farm fires in Punjab,” Kejriwal said. “Hopefully, by next year, we will take many harsh steps. We will align with farmers to reduce farm fires,” he said. But he continued blaming the Centre for the poor quality in Delhi. The Delhi CM said that the Centre should intervene and take responsibility for the bad air quality in Delhi.
