New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal sharply criticised Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s remarks equating air quality levels with temperature, questioning the scientific basis of her comments. “When did this new science come?” Kejriwal asked in a post on X.
The former Delhi Chief Minister said Gupta had “admitted” that water was being sprayed near pollution monitoring stations to keep readings artificially low. “First point, The Chief Minister has at least accepted that wherever AQI monitors are installed, water spraying is being done there so that the truth about pollution doesn’t reach the people of Delhi. In other words, a game is underway to hide the data and show ‘clean air’,” he alleged.
Kejriwal also mocked Gupta’s analogy linking AQI to temperature. “Second point, When did this new science come about that AQI has now become temperature?” he asked. His remarks came amid widespread criticism of the Delhi government after multiple social media videos purportedly showed water being sprayed near AQI monitoring stations to suppress pollution readings. Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘very poor’ category on Monday, with the 24-hour average AQI recorded at 314 at 4 pm, up from 308 the previous day, according to the CPCB.
Responding to questions at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2025, CM Rekha Gupta had dismissed opposition allegations of data manipulation. “Tell me, what is a hotspot? A hotspot is an area with the highest pollution levels… So you’ll spray only on the
hotspot,” she said. Defending the practice, she added, “AQI is like a temperature… watering it is the only solution which we are also doing.”