The sky over the National Capital Territory of Delhi, once a clear expanse, has settled into a thick, poisonous shroud. As the post-Diwali season rumbles on, so does the public health crisis, with the city’s Air Quality Index consistently plunging into the “Very Poor” and “Severe” categories, and being classed as “Hazardous” as at the time of writing this story.
On days when the AQI recorded its season’s worst, hitting hazardous peaks, the smog-choked city faced a new form of conflict: a clash between desperate citizens demanding the fundamental right to breathable air and the state authorities tasked with maintaining law and order.
This toxic atmosphere became the backdrop for a poignant display of civil dissent near the historic India Gate. It was not a political rally, but a protest organized by concerned parents, healthcare workers, and environmental activists, many of whom brought their young children, bundled up in masks and scarfs, to make a visceral point. They were protesting the city’s failed response to the crisis, a situation where the air itself has become a lethal agent. Despite minor, temporary relief in pollution levels reported by official bodies, the air remained toxic to breathe, with the government’s emergency Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) often appearing insufficient or delayed.
The protestors gathered with handmade banners and simple, powerful slogans. One mother, spoke for many, stating, “We are not asking for luxuries; we are asking for our children’s right to breathe. Every morning, I feel like I am sending my daughter into a gas chamber.” The presence of children, some holding small placards with hand-drawn images of clear skies, lent the gathering an immediate, unignorable emotional weight. It transformed the protest from a political event into a moral appeal.
However, the peaceful assembly soon drew a decisive response from the police. Citing potential disruption of traffic and concerns over public security in a high-profile zone, a large contingent of police personnel arrived at the scene. They were tasked with dissolving the gathering swiftly. Officials argued that while the right to protest was recognized, the immediate need was to prevent any escalation that could affect the movement of people and emergency services in the central area.
New Delhi district DCP Devesh Kumar Mahla said, “India Gate is not a protest site. The designated protest site in New Delhi is Jantar Mantar, as per the Supreme Court’s directions. That is why we have advised everyone to follow the guidelines. At India Gate, people come along with their families to enjoy, and it is a national monument. There are VIP routes here; we are deployed here regularly.”
The situation escalated when protestors, refusing to disperse and demanding to be heard by senior government representatives, formed human chains. The police began to detain the activists. The act of law enforcement leading away parents while clutching their small children was captured by onlookers and news photographers, becoming an instant, disturbing symbol of the deepening crisis.
The detentions were systematic: parents, students, elderly citizens, and core activists were gently, but firmly, moved into waiting police vans. They were taken to nearby police stations, where they were processed and later released, a cycle of detention and release that has become common in the city’s protest landscape.
The detentions, while ending the immediate protest at India Gate, did little to address the underlying cause. The crisis is multifaceted, driven by vehicular emissions, industrial discharge, construction dust, and regional farm stubble burning, creating a complex, annual problem that transcends administrative boundaries. Sadly, at times, the challenges faced by India’s capital city are swept under the carpet by short-term measures, such as manipulation of data.
The air continues to hang heavy, demanding not just containment measures like the GRAP Stages 1 and 2, but a radical, long-term policy overhaul. The police action served as a temporary silencing of dissent, but the collective coughs and burning eyes across the city testify that the demand for clean air remains louder than any official directive.
The incident underscores a bitter truth for Delhi’s residents: in their capital city, fighting for the air to breathe can be deemed an act of public disorder, leaving citizens to question which freedom is currently under greater threat; the freedom of assembly, or the freedom to respire. The fight for breathable air has now become an ongoing, contentious battle for accountability.
