How Yamuna controversy sank AAP in Delhi

NEW DELHI: The Yamuna factor seemingly played a significant role in the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections, reshaping voter sentiment and helping the BJP script history by defeating AAP.

A key driver of this shift was the backlash from Haryanvi-origin voters who viewed AAP’s narrative on Yamuna pollution as an attack on their home state.

The BJP, which bagged 48 out of 70 sets, fielded 14 candidates of Haryanvi descent and 12 of them won. The Aam Aadmi Party had 10 such candidates but only four won.

In 13 constituencies with over 10 per cent Jat voters, the BJP secured 11 seats, a major reversal from 2020. The saffron party also dominated 12 out of 13 seats where Haryanvi-origin voters account for over five per cent of the electorate and won nine out of 11

seats bordering Haryana.

Flowing 52 kilometres through Delhi and passing through 15 constituencies, Yamuna has long been a symbol of environmental neglect.

Kejriwal had promised ahead of the Delhi elections in 2020 that he would clean Yamuna. Every year, as a thick layer of froth enveloped the river, especially around the Chhath festival when people offered prayers at its ghats, the AAP government was reminded of its

unfulfilled promise.

When the BJP stepped up its attack on the issue of Yamuna pollution during the election campaign, Kejriwal alleged that BJP-ruled Haryana had “poisoned” the river water to harm the people of Delhi. His remarks triggered a massive controversy as the BJP swiftly turned it into an emotional issue, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling it an “insult to Haryana

and all Indians”.

While AAP later clarified that Kejriwal was referring to the rising ammonia level in the river water coming from Haryana, his remarks backfired politically.

Modi’s counterattack -- asking whether Haryana’s people would poison water consumed by their own families in Delhi -- resonated deeply and helped BJP consolidate its voter base, according to BJP leaders.

“When he failed to clean up the Yamuna, he said its water from the Haryana side was being poisoned. This statement has cost him very dear. If he had not made such a statement, his party would have won 5-7 seats more,” Union minister and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal

Khattar said. BJP flipped key Yamuna belt and rural seats, capitalising on AAP’s missteps on pollution. Modi vowed to restore Yamuna’s identity, while BJP’s promises of riverfront development strengthened

its appeal.