‘AQI’ chants overshadow Messi event in smog-hit Delhi

At the Messi GOAT India Tour in Delhi, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta was met with chants of ‘AQI, AQI’ from sections of the crowd, highlighting severe air pollution in the capital, which recorded an Air Quality Index of 427–498 on Monday

New Delhi: Amid alarming pollution levels blanketing Delhi, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta was greeted with chants of ‘AQI’, ‘AQI’ from a section of the crowd when she took the stage to welcome football icon Lionel Messi at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Monday.

A sharp drop in visibility and haze-obscured skyline marked another low for Delhi on Monday as the Air Quality Index (AQI) touched 498 in the morning and settled at 427 by the evening, pushing the capital into ‘severe’ zone for the third day running.

A video showing a section of the crowd chanting ‘AQI’, ‘AQI’ has gone viral on social media, prompting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to attack Gupta over the ‘severe’ pollution levels gripping the capital.

“International Shame, Crowd for Messi shouts ‘AQI, AQI’ as soon as Delhi CM Rekha Gupta arrives,” AAP’s Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a post on X, sharing the clip.

The AAP accused the BJP governments at the Centre and in Delhi of being indifferent as toxic air choked Delhi-NCR and parts of North India, saying the situation had reached emergency levels.

“In a country where everyone is talking about pollution, the prime minister is just silent on the issue,” Bharadwaj said.

Gupta had earlier said her government is making all kinds of efforts to curb pollution. She also accused the previous AAP and Congress governments of not doing anything on the issue.

“I want to ask those protesting at India Gate: The problem of air pollution is not new and has been around for years. Where were your protests before? What did the previous government do? “There is a backlog of 27 years. The government needs at least 27 months to fix things. After 27 months, you can ask me about the steps we took to address air pollution,” Gupta had said.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), 27 monitoring stations across Delhi recorded ‘severe’ air quality on Monday, with Wazirpur recording the worst air quality at 475. Notably, the CPCB does not register an AQI value beyond 500.

The dense smog affected daily life, with poor visibility and health concerns troubling residents and visitors. A city resident said heavy smog made commuting risky, forcing people to take precautions such as wearing masks.

At the Arun Jaitley Stadium, the Lionel Messi G.O.A.T. India Tour ended in a blaze of glory as fans joyously gathered to catch a glimpse of the man who does things on the football field that are often beyond human comprehension.

The much-publicised event had the ending it wanted, after a chaotic beginning in Kolkata on the tour’s first stop on Saturday.

Speaking briefly in Spanish, Messi said, “Gracias Delhi! Hasta pronto”, creating a sense of yearning among the crowds rarely seen before.