Rahul Gandhi raises air pollution crisis in Parliament, seeks discussion: 'No blame game, let's talk about the future...'

Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday brought up the issue of air pollution in the Parliament, saying the party is ready to work in tandem with the ruling government over the matter.

“Most of our major cities are living under a blanket of poisonous air. Millions of children are getting lung disease. Their future is being destroyed. People are getting cancer. Older people are struggling to breathe. This is an interesting issue because I am certain that there will be full agreement between the government and us on this issue,” the leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said.

Gandhi said air pollution is not an ideological issue, adding that everyone in the House agrees on the need to work together to address the harm it is causing to people. “Everybody in this house would agree that air pollution, the damage it is doing to our people, is something that we would like to cooperate on,” he said.

Calling upon the government to draw up a plan to tackle air pollution, Rahul Gandhi said the Congress would also get involved in developing the same. He also sought a discussion in the Parliament over the crisis, which is a matter of grave concern today.

"I think the government should have a discussion in Parliament. We should try not to make it a discussion where we are abusing you, and you are abusing us. I think we should make it a discussion where we are participating, we are showing the country that on this fundamental issue, there is agreement, and the best minds are going to be put into place to solve this issue," the Congress leader said.

"..I would say that it would be an interesting experiment to see if instead of you blaming us and we blaming you, we can try and say on this one issue where we agree, there's no disagreement, there we say, listen, let us just talk about the future of people of India," he stated.

Reacting to the Congress leader's statement, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said, "The government, from day one, had made our position very clear that on all important matters, it is ready to discuss and also to find a solution, taking along the suggestions from all the members, including the principal opposition party led by Rahul Gandhi ji...Under the various laws and rules, we will see how we will take up this discussion."