BJP’s NCR moment: Show intent to address pollution
If BJP successfully cleans Delhi’s air, it will have achieved what no party has been able to do for decades, a legacy-defining victory for public health.
For decades, the conversation around Delhi’s air pollution has been stuck in a predictable cycle of outrage, blame, and inaction. Every winter, as air quality plummets, state governments point fingers at one another, trading accusations instead of solutions. Delhi blames Haryana and Punjab for crop burning while neighbouring states blame Delhi for unchecked vehicular and industrial emissions. The Centre calls for coordination, yet year after year, the crisis has remained unresolved.
But for the first time in four decades, the political landscape has shifted in a way that removes all excuses. With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) now in power in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, the entire National Capital Region (NCR) is under a single party rule. This presents an unprecedented opportunity to tackle air pollution in a coordinated, comprehensive manner, if there is political will to do so.
Delhi’s pollution problem is not confined to its borders. The Capital is part of a vast, interconnected airshed; a geographic region where air pollutants mix and disperse. Whether it’s vehicular emissions from Gurugram, construction dust from Noida, or stubble burning in Haryana, pollutants do not respect state lines. The air in the NCR moves as one, and so must the policies that govern it.
Yet, until now, every attempt at collaboration has been obstructed by political differences. The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government often found itself at odds with BJP-governed Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, leading to policy paralysis. Now, with BJP governments controlling all NCR states, there is no room for excuses. If political barriers were truly the problem, their removal should mean swift, effective action.
The airshed approach recognises that air pollution must be tackled at a regional level, with seamless coordination across state lines. This means moving beyond isolated, city-specific measures and adopting a unified framework that addresses pollution at its source, be it traffic emissions, industrial activity, or agricultural residue burning. An effective airshed strategy for the NCR must include common regulations with standardised emission norms for industries, uniform construction dust control measures, and a single, enforceable policy on vehicular pollution across all NCR cities. It requires joint enforcement through a centralised monitoring system backed by real-time data and satellite surveillance to ensure compliance across state borders. A unified response to crop burning is essential, with Haryana, UP, and Rajasthan implementing coordinated action plans that eliminate stubble burning through financial incentives, shift of policy to crop diversification and from mechanised harvesting to manual methods. Banning vehicles older than 10 years (diesel) and 15 years (petrol) in Delhi while allowing them to operate freely in neighbouring NCR states diminishes the policy’s effectiveness. Also, nothing should stop the ruling party from working on integrated public transport creating seamless, robust, affordable, and sustainable bus and train networks across state lines to curb vehicular emissions.
This moment offers the BJP a rare opportunity. If it successfully cleans Delhi’s air, it will have achieved what no party has been able to do for decades, a legacy-defining victory for public health and governance. But if it fails, there will be no Opposition to blame. The accountability will rest squarely with the party that now governs the entire region.
It is no secret that air pollution is not just an environmental concern, it is a public health emergency. Studies have repeatedly shown that long-term exposure to Delhi’s toxic air increases the risk of respiratory diseases, cardiovascular illnesses, and even cognitive decline. Children growing up in this city are breathing air so polluted that their lung capacity is significantly lower than their peers in less polluted regions. This is not a crisis that can be managed with short-term fixes like sprinkling water or enforcing odd-even vehicle restrictions for a few weeks. It requires structural, systemic, long-term policy shifts, something that a single party rule should, in theory, be able to implement without bureaucratic roadblocks.
Yet, there is a real risk that despite this political alignment, the inertia of past years will persist. Bureaucratic inefficiencies, corporate lobbying, and a reluctance to take hard decisions, such as phasing out polluting industries or implementing emission and congestion pricing, could derail meaningful progress. The BJP has often positioned itself as a party of decisive action. If that is truly the case, then Delhi’s air crisis is the perfect test. The people of Delhi and the NCR will no longer accept empty promises or performative gestures. If pollution levels do not show a dramatic improvement in the next five years, it will be clear that political alignment was never the real problem, lack of intent was.
Bhavreen Kandhari is an advocate for environmental rights. The views expressed are personal