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Yogi's 80:20 pitch, SIR row in focus as Delhi-NCR chokes on post-Diwali smog
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00:00Good evening, you're watching To The Point. I am Free P. Chodhury. Before we get into our debates, allow me
00:05to take you through the headlines.
00:12Modi Mantri's sharp attack on Sonia Memoir says Sonia Gandhi wept over Babri and Batla House but did not shed
00:20tears for Sanatani's.
00:22PJP corner Sonia Gandhi asks why was she mum when Rambhats were gunned down?
00:31Inka hasu muslim pram me nikalta hai, port pram me kyaunki beeta ko launch karna hai, to is liye muslim
00:41pram hi dikhana hai.
00:46Showdown over Samajwadi Party MP remarks on 1990 savagery that killed 15 karsevats.
00:51Muslim karsevat Mohamad Habib says situation did not warrant any firing.
00:55BJP demands apology from Akhilesh before his visit to Ayodhya.
01:05War of words over multiple murders in Kamilnadu on Diwali Day, ex-Chief Minister Stalin calls Vijay government incompetent.
01:13Says Vijay, a part-time chief minister and a full-time content creator.
01:25Absolutely no relief for Delhiites from pollution, though the Delhi AQI better than yesterday but still in very poor and
01:33severe category.
01:34Traders say crackers demonized for pollution. BJP versus our blame game continues.
01:46Unchecked stubble burning allegedly wages in Punjab.
01:50Over 4,657 stubble burning cases, 800 and plus FYRs.
02:04Media CEO garners Trump's support.
02:06U.S. President defends Huang in China's spy gate.
02:10Trump believes Huang didn't.
02:11No lady was a spy.
02:13Beijing also rejects espionage charges.
02:32All right, let's quickly get into the latest news break that is coming in.
02:34The U.S. Secretary of War, Pete Hegsut, has broken silence and pushed back against an impeachment threat.
02:42Pointing to 250 years of American history and military operations under presidents from both parties,
02:48Pete Hegsut says no Secretary of War or Secretary of Defense has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military
02:55operations.
02:56He cites Reagan in Lebanon, Clinton in Kosovo, Obama in Iraq and Syria, and Biden's operation in the same region.
03:05All right, so that's the latest news break that is coming in.
03:09Let's quickly dip into that reaction.
03:14In the 250 years of our American republic, no Secretary of War or Secretary of Defense has ever been impeached
03:23for carrying out lawful military operations.
03:27And in our case, successful ones at that.
03:32Not once.
03:34War powers resolution or not.
03:35Not under Reagan in Lebanon, not under Clinton in Kosovo, not under Obama in Iraq and Syria, not under Biden
03:43in Iraq and Syria.
03:46That's the standard.
03:47The history is clear and it's very straightforward.
03:52The U.S. Secretary of War's reaction onto an impeachment threat, especially after the midterm elections.
04:00With that, let's quickly move on and shift focus to domestic politics, especially the politics that is brewing over the
04:07SIR and the latest to jump in and possibly call out.
04:10A malfunction of the Election Commission and an SIR that was carried out in a hurried manner is no one
04:17else but the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
04:20Right ahead of the high-stakes Assembly elections in UP, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath caused quite a bit of a
04:27flurry with his claim on our sister concern, Ajitak,
04:31that 1 crore 27 lakh Hindu voters are missing from the state's draft electoral rolls.
04:38Yogi had dismissed the opposition's SIR concerns as propaganda, but his own claim has now brought the voter-less controversy
04:44right back into the center of a political debate where SIR is concerned.
05:00Till now, the SIR storm had largely been driven by the opposition and civil society groups.
05:10The following Governor challenges 2 Mul образور Could하세요 and other guests do, though,
05:11should have pushed over to the session.
05:16Because then, the incoming destination of the other milligrams due to be reported flagged,
05:18because of the pair of women in UN Peace events times the quintessentialof the civil society group
05:20has touched by the opposition.
05:26For the exchanges and Capital constitu diet by Jayhai ISIR?
05:29After the Indian people?
05:30The national verdad the issue was still said by simsats.
05:35Yogi Fremont,
05:36the fermion Cauchara and Capital among the dürf is manifested to
05:37We have had a memorandum that we have had this memorandum.
05:40We have had this memorandum that we have had this in the end of the year.
05:46I have 1.27.00 million dollars on Hinduism.
05:51They are the 5.99.
05:58But in the Bhaarit Nerewati's name, the name of the Nariuk is not.
06:01foreign
06:27How do you know the name of Shasana?
06:48But now, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has added a new political twist.
06:56His claim, 1.27 crore Hindu voters are missing from Uttar Pradesh's electoral rolls.
07:04But the scale of deletions is staggering.
07:11Uttar Pradesh has 15.44 crore electors before SIR.
07:17More than 2.04 crore names have now been deleted.
07:21That is 13.21% of the state's electorate.
07:25While over 84 lakh new voters have been added, the final electorate stands at around 13.40 crore.
07:34Yogi's remarks have now handed the opposition fresh ammunition.
07:38At the India Blocks mega rally on November 1st, the opposition had put UP voter deletion and the SIR exercise
07:46at the centre of its attack on the election commission.
08:16Uttar Pradesh's presidential election commission has made up of 1.27 crore.
08:18messaging goes beyond SIR. At Ashtak Panchayat, Yogi also doubled down on his much debated
08:2680 to 20 ratio election pitch.
09:10इसे लोग वे BJP और NDA की विरोध में जाएंगे. अलगअग खेमों में वहाँ बटेंगे.
09:34The formulation has drawn criticism with opponents alleging that it carries a communal undertone.
09:42Achillesh Yadav has now turned the formula on its head.
09:45His counter that Yogi's 80-20 ratio arithmetic actually means the BJP-led alliance will be restricted to 80 seats
09:55while the PD alliance will emerge victorious.
09:59Yogi had dismissed the opposition's concerns over SIR as propaganda.
10:04But now, with his own claim of 1.27 crore Hindu voters missing, the political narrative has shifted.
10:11The question is no longer just who is questioning SIR, but who stands to gain from the voter list battle
10:17ahead of 2027.
10:21Bureau Report, India Today.
10:27All right, so who stands to gain, who stands to lose, and the political rhetoric of it.
10:33All of that aside, the bottom line is the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh admitting that the Election Commission of
10:40India did not conduct the SIR in Uttar Pradesh in a fair fashion.
10:45Let's take this question to our panelists this evening.
10:49Joining me, Sanju Verma, National Spokesperson, Bharatiya Janata Party.
10:53Ghansham Tiwari, National Spokesperson, Samajwadi Party.
10:56Amar Habibullah, Spokesperson, Congress.
10:58And Shantanu Gupta, political analyst and author.
11:01Let me begin with you, Mr. Gupta, before we get into our political spokespersons.
11:04And the question that I ask you is, what do you make of the comment by Yogi Adityanath, where he
11:09says that there were voters, Hindus, who found themselves in the voting list of Panchayat elections, but strangely don't have
11:16their names included in the voter list post-SIR.
11:19Because keeping the political rhetoric away, keeping what the allegations of the opposition of it being communal away, how would
11:28you read this comment?
11:29Because it seems to suggest that the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister admits that the Election Commission didn't do a fair
11:34job of the SIR.
11:37See, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister is a five-time member of Parliament, two-time Chief Minister, so we understand the
11:44ground reality.
11:45And we all know, anyone who has tracked the election, we all understand that Panchayat voter list is different than
11:50the Assembly and the Lok Sabha voting list.
11:53I think it should be the same, but currently, and many such things.
11:58If you find the number of students enrolled in Anganwadi and the number of students with the ANM, there will
12:04be discrepancies, right?
12:05Because there are two different institutions, they are enumerating differently, right?
12:08And now, because every voter list is available online after the SIR process, and now, because there is one and
12:14a half months left for the SSR.
12:15So, I think this is a message to all the MLAs, all the prospective candidates, all the probable candidates that
12:20utilize this one and a half months and make sure that anyone who was not present at the location,
12:26so that the Election Commission returned from their door, or anyone who is not a new voter, he also mentioned
12:31about the new voter.
12:32So, find, and he also give the source that, okay, take the Panchayat list, match it with.
12:36So, I think this is nothing but an instruction from an open platform to all the BLAs, all the Booth
12:42-level agents of the party, all the Karakartas of the party, all the probable candidates of the party,
12:46that, okay, get your house correct and make sure, because all the Booth-level agents can formally file Form 6
12:52and Form 7, right?
12:53They've done that during the SIR process. They can do that now in the SSR process. I think it's just
12:59a call to all the BLAs of his party.
13:03But, Mr. Gupta, you don't see it as admittance of the Election Commission not doing a fair job of the
13:09SIR in UP?
13:11No, I think he's not attaching, to my understanding, whatever he said, he's not attaching any malice to it.
13:17He's saying that, okay, these two lists are not matching.
13:20And I think I heard also the Election Commission of the Election Commissioner of UP.
13:25And he's saying that if the person is not present three times at the door, we invoke the Form 7
13:31automatically and the vote is cut.
13:34Until that person presents himself or herself in the claims process, right?
13:38So, he's just directing that these voters are not there.
13:42Okay.
13:42And Aklesh Yadav's only claim is that it's because he lost MLC election.
13:45I'm sure Aklesh Yadav understands that MLC…
13:48Okay. No, but all of that…
13:50Your feeder has gone down, sir, because it's a two-minute timer.
13:53I'll come back to you. I'll circle back to you.
13:55I'll bring in Sanju Verma into this conversation.
13:57Sanju Verma, Shantanu Gupta says that, listen, it's not that he's attaching motive to the Election Commission.
14:02It's also a call to Cader that get your house in order and the MLAs get your voters on the
14:08rolling… on the electoral rolls.
14:11But having said that, when you just break it down, what is the opposition's first demand was?
14:15Then why is the SIR being carried out in a hurry?
14:18Wait it out. Nobody's opposing the SIR.
14:20We don't see propaganda behind SIR.
14:22But an exercise like this cannot be carried out in a hurry.
14:26And a statement coming in from the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
14:30only gives credence to the same very fact that the Election Commission carried out the SIR in UP in a
14:37haphazard manner,
14:38where in 1 crore 27 lakh voters find themselves out of the rolls.
14:44You know, Preeti, let's get one thing very clear.
14:46I'm not going to change my arguments.
14:48We've had this discussion pertaining to SIR prior to Bihar elections,
14:52during West Bengal elections, Tamil Nadu elections and now UP elections are on the angle.
14:57The limited point is this.
14:58Voters can only be added after filling in Form 6.
15:02Voters can only be deleted after filling in Form 7.
15:06And as far as Form 17C goes, that is to ensure that once the voting exercise is completed,
15:12the poll booth officer, the returning officer, the opposition candidate, the sitting party candidate,
15:18they all have access to information as to how many people actually voted at a given polling booth or polling
15:24station.
15:25And if Yogi Adityanath has said that, you know, there is a rise in Muslim electorate to the tune of
15:321.65%, 1.27 crore Hindu voters seem to be out of the rolls,
15:38the Election Commission will do the needful.
15:40But I think there is a big difference which we need to highlight.
15:43I will highlight that.
15:44Yogi Adityanath has not said that SIR is an instrument to indulge in vote chori.
15:50Yogi Adityanath has not indulged in vicious and wild name calling of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
15:57From Amta Banerji to Tejasvi Yadav to Akhilesh Yadav to Rahul Gandhi and just about everybody from the opposition used
16:05the SIR as an opportunity to take potshots at the CEC
16:10and vilify the constitutional powers that the Chief Election Commissioner exercises by Article 324, 325 and 326 of the Constitution.
16:21If there is, you know, a possibility that some genuine voters find themselves out of the rolls, they can always
16:29fill in Form 6, they can approach the appellate tribunal,
16:33because as I have always mentioned, finding yourself out of the rolls does not necessarily mean disenfranchisement,
16:40which is what the opposition has been howling about and completely wrongfully so.
16:44So that is the intent point I wish to emphasize.
16:48All right, Ms. Barma, your fader has gone down, but just, you know, I'll circle back to you on the
16:51point of Form 6 and Form 7, Form 6 addition, Form 6 deletion, until and unless.
16:56Just about a week ago, the Election Commission read down the SIR declaration where Form 6 was concerned.
17:02How would voters who were on the rolls earlier, who were not new voters, found themselves out of the rolls,
17:08at themselves?
17:09Because earlier on, why would they be filing Form 6?
17:13Because then they would be declaring that they are new voters, but they had been voting earlier.
17:17And that has been one of the issues that has been raised by many, forget about politics, many journalists and
17:23many civil rights activists.
17:24But I'll come back to you, ma'am, on this question.
17:26Allow me to bring in our other two political panelists, and I want to bring in Ghansham Tiwari into this
17:32conversation.
17:33And Mr. Ghansham Tiwari, the fact is, I'll take off from what Sanju Verma is saying, that the BJP's Chief
17:41Minister has said that there is an issue with the SIR.
17:45It's basically trying to motivate and energize and enthuse your cadre to get maximum number of voters back on the
17:50list.
17:51He's not questioning the functioning of the Election Commission.
17:54He's not attaching motive to the Election Commission.
17:56He is just saying that this is an issue.
17:59Correct it before the polls.
18:00This is very normal, regular, political, you know, commentary coming in from the Chief Minister to get their voters back
18:07on the rolls.
18:09Good evening, Priti, to you, the viewers and Ferruko panelists, and a very happy Diwali, happy Bhaidu, and happy Govan
18:14Pula to everyone,
18:15that our collective effort will make our nation prosperous.
18:17Now, coming to the main point, I'm deconstructing his statement verbatim.
18:21Point number one, Mr. Ajit Nadj said that there is a difference between State Election Commission numbers and the post
18:29-SIR numbers.
18:30What is this difference?
18:31The State Election Commission number is 16.9 crores, updated latest in December 2025.
18:38The post-SIR number is 13.3 crores.
18:42In between, the SIR numbers, pre-SIR numbers is 15.5 crores.
18:46So, if Ajit Nadj is talking about the difference, that difference is not 2.5 crores which is there in
18:52post-SIR, pre-SIR.
18:54It is more than 3 crores.
18:55And then he says, 1.27 crore Hindu voters.
18:59How does he determine Hindu versus Muslims?
19:02And if out of 3 crores, 1.27 crores deleted are Hindu voters, what happens to the remaining 1.73
19:07crores?
19:07Point number two.
19:09Any state has been requesting the same thing, that you have ways to triangulate, you have the SEC data, you
19:15have pre-SIR data, you have post-SIR data, you have the beneficiaries data, you have the data with respect
19:19to new voters.
19:20As per the Indian, any data research will say that India has 102 crores adults.
19:25Post-SIR, 88 crores voters.
19:27What happens to these 14 crores voters?
19:29So, this ghotala that Gyanesh Gupta sitting in Amit Shah's pocket or Nareta Modi's pocket, we don't know.
19:34But General Shah and Gyanesh Gupta has pulled on India, has poisoned the electoral system of India so much that
19:40even a sitting BJP chief minister is unsure of himself.
19:44And there is no magic trick by which this 1.27 crore which Adityanath with his tantra and mantra probably
19:49identified that they are Hindu, can be added back.
19:51In Bengal, this appeal goes to 13 years.
19:54How would you add 1.27 crore even if he gets his sway on Amit Shah?
19:58How will you add 1.27 crores when Bengal 38 lakh appeals take 13 years?
20:02This is a cruel joke on people.
20:05It shows that BJP has distrust within, they distrust the voter and there is distrust between General Shah and Adityanath.
20:11Okay.
20:11So, your timer is down and I am going to come back to you because you say that it is
20:15an allegation or a figment of the BJP and the CM's imagination that it's 1.27 Hindu voters.
20:22This was something that was echoed by your leader Akhilesh Yadav at Ramlila Maidan as well, where he himself called
20:28this, called 1.27 missing voters on the list are Hindu voters.
20:33Mr. Akhilesh Yadav did say that at Ramlila Maidan.
20:36But I'll circle back to you on that and I want to bring in the Congress spokesperson because Mr. Amr
20:42Habibullah, in conjunction to what Mr. Yogi Adityanath said on possible voter deletions to the tune of 1.27 and
20:52he's labeled them as Hindu.
20:53The larger question he addressed later is that that doesn't matter whether they are deletions, additions, because the addition seems
21:02to be the Muslim voters have increased by a percentage or two on the rolls and that voter will anyway
21:09not gravitate towards the BJP.
21:12Ultimately, he has echoed the same sentiment that was echoed earlier during the 2024 elections as well, 80-20.
21:23Yeah, first of all, I'm quite surprised.
21:25I think it's a good thing that Yogi Adityanath has raised this issue and he should have raised it earlier.
21:31It is a matter of national interest that every voter in the country votes.
21:37It's a constitutional right of every voter to vote and to remove a voter and to remove so many voters
21:44illegally is absolutely wrong.
21:46So, I'm glad that Yogi Adityanath has raised this issue, but I wish he had not divided into Hindu-Muslim.
21:52He is the chief minister of our state and I'm a Muslim from UP.
21:59I would like him to have said that any voter that's been deleted wrongly should be added back.
22:04And I think that's a fair ask for any chief minister today.
22:07So, I was quite taken aback that he made a Hindu-Muslim statement about it.
22:12But I'm also glad that he has finally spoken about it.
22:16And as far as we are concerned, we know that SIR has not been a smooth activity and we know
22:22that it's flawed with frauds.
22:25And we've seen the frauds happening and it's good that hopefully he will also join us next time in the
22:32rally and stand with us to call this out.
22:35And it's better for all Indian citizens if we have a free and fair election.
22:39I don't know why people here are trying to hide from a free and fair election.
22:43After all, that is the right of every Indian and every Indian is asking for that right.
22:47Why should you delete some voter and not another voter for no rhyme or reason?
22:52You have to have a general reason for that.
22:54And as you've seen, there are a lot of unanswered questions in SIR and people are asking those questions.
22:59So, I think on the whole, it's a good thing.
23:01But I just wish he hadn't divided into Hindu-Muslims.
23:05Alright, you wish that he hadn't divided into Hindu-Muslims what the Congress spokesperson had to say.
23:10And I will bring in Shantanu Gupta into this conversation.
23:13Shantanu Gupta, somebody who's written about the Chief Minister who also knows Uttar Pradesh a fair bit.
23:20If the 80-20 political, you know, one can call it, you know, the clarion call of Yogi Adityanath didn't
23:30quite work in 2024.
23:31I understand those were general elections.
23:33But multiple rallies, the same call was made by the Chief Minister of UP, where he spoke of that this
23:39election in UP, 80 seats would be
23:42an 80-20 election.
23:44It didn't work in general elections.
23:46Do you think it will work in the state election?
23:50First of all, Preeti, when he mentioned 80-20, he very well qualified it, what he means by 80 and
23:55what he means by 20.
23:56We all might be having our own interpretation, our own biases about 80-20.
24:01He said 80% of people are those who believe in the ethos of this country, culture of this country,
24:09who believe in governance, safety.
24:11He very well mentioned that.
24:12He did not attach to any religion.
24:13If you are thinking 20% are Muslim and they don't attach to the ethos of this country, they don't
24:20believe in safety and security, that's your prerogative.
24:24You can attach that motive to Muslims.
24:26But Yogi Adityanath did not attach that.
24:27In your earlier point, you said it's a hurried exercise.
24:30While the other panelists were speaking, I did a small back-of-the-envelope calculation.
24:35And they were, from the Election Commission side in UP, 1,77,000 BLOs were involved.
24:41The activity ran for, SIR activity in UP ran for 166 days.
24:44And the initial list was 15.44 crore voters.
24:48It came out to 15 voters to be verified per day per BLO, which comes to four to five families.
24:53But Chandrupa, your time is up.
24:54But let me, two things.
24:55I didn't say that it was a hurried exercise in Uttar Pradesh.
24:58I said the opposition right in the beginning, at the time of Bihar, at the time of Bengal, had said
25:03that this is a hurried exercise.
25:04We don't oppose it.
25:05But take your time.
25:06Number two, I didn't say.
25:08I didn't qualify or quantify 80-20.
25:10You quantified and qualified it.
25:12All I asked you was, Mr. Gupta, that in 2024, 80-20 didn't work.
25:18It was a clarion call.
25:20Now that is for the UP Chief Minister to define what he means by 80-20.
25:24What's your understanding of 80-20?
25:25Sir, my understanding is, as a political journalist, 80-20 is what Mr. Yogi Adityanath had taken to possibly many
25:33rallies during the general election.
25:35What's your understanding?
25:36And seemingly it didn't work.
25:38Sir, it could be everybody's interpretation is different.
25:41Everybody's interpreting, I believe, you're asking me, I will believe what the Chief Minister says.
25:47Because if he says, I believe what the Chief Minister says, and my question, and my question, Mr. Gupta, wasn't,
25:54I didn't attribute, you know, a religion to 80-20.
25:58I asked you.
25:59And as a political journalist, 2024, 80-20 didn't work.
26:04Whatever the interpretation was by the people.
26:06You are saying the Chief Minister has quantified it in a very basic manner.
26:10I believe him.
26:10Why would I, you know, why would I not believe the Chief Minister?
26:12But it didn't work on ground.
26:14Will it work this time was the question.
26:16I want to just...
26:17I think, Preeti...
26:26What works very difficult to attribute, right?
26:29We are not sitting in the minds of 15 crore voters.
26:32Did the Samhidhaan badal jaoga trick work for Congress or SP?
26:35Maybe yes.
26:36Did the Samhidhaan reservation chala jaoga trick work for the SP Congress?
26:41Maybe yes.
26:41Of course.
26:44I agree.
26:45You don't know what works, what doesn't work.
26:46But the fact is, 80-20 didn't seem to work at that time.
26:50You have to do a very detailed analysis that 80-20 worked or not.
26:52But sir, now we are at a place where we do a detailed analysis and if 80-20 would have
26:56worked, then the results of the 2024 elections would have been 80-20.
27:01The fact is, if this...
27:02You speak about the SC population on Samhidhaan Khatri mein hai hai.
27:07If the SC and the Dalit population in Uttar Pradesh had voted on the lines of what was
27:12alleged by the opposition that 80-20 was a communal statement, then they would have
27:16stood by 80.
27:17They would not have looked at reservation there.
27:19But having said that, I just want to bring in all our other panelists.
27:23Last one minute, Sanju Verma, make your point.
27:26You know, I just want to focus on one thing.
27:28Mahua Moitra said, oh, SIR deletions, you know, in Murshidabad and, you know, Muslim-dominated
27:35elected areas is the reason that the erstwhile Trinamul Congress lost the Bengal elections.
27:41Everybody started jeering, cheering for Mahua Moitra.
27:43Sahi Bola.
27:44Mamta Banerjee said that, you know, we lost elections because Muslim electorate found itself
27:48out of the voting list.
27:50Everybody started clapping for Mamta Banerjee.
27:52Nobody asked for a shred of evidence from Mahua Moitra.
27:55Nobody asked for a shred of evidence from Mamta Banerjee.
27:58Rahul Gandhi repeatedly has been claiming that Maharashtra 2024 assembly elections, the
28:03Congress lost because of SIR-related issues and vote story.
28:08Nobody asked Rahul Gandhi for a shred of evidence.
28:10But now, when Yogi Adityanath makes a statement pertaining to 80-20, there is brouhaha.
28:15I want to say, BJP won Maharashtra 2024 assembly elections, Haryana 2024, Delhi 2025.
28:22Because of this 80-20 factor, I am very clear that Muslims, by and large, do not vote for
28:28the BJP.
28:29I am not going to sanitize this statement and try and window-dress it.
28:34Much to other peoples.
28:35Sam, the time is up.
28:36I think you and Shantanu Gupta need to take this offline.
28:39Because, Mr. Shantanu Gupta, you said that this is not what the Chief Minister went.
28:42But the BJP spokesperson is very clear that the Chief Minister meant 80-20 as Muslims
28:48and Hindus.
28:49So, maybe, I think, a little bit of communication on the sidelines of this.
28:53Final one moment.
28:54One minute.
28:55Ghansha Amtiwari, make your point.
28:56And I will go to Mr. Ramar Habibullah.
28:58Well, two points.
28:59I think this is the time for Mr. Ganesh Gupta to get up and understand that he cannot single-handedly,
29:06on behest of General Shah, hijack the electoral system of this country.
29:09Because when he does that, he can harm BJP, as Adityanath is saying.
29:14And the 1.27 crore number that you mentioned, came from Adityanath, when the Chief Minister himself is saying.
29:19In fact, Akhileshi today said that he welcomes Adityanath to join the petition.
29:23This is central to our democracy.
29:26We are not a set of people who want to elect a dictator who is playing to some bhajan app.
29:31We want real people as real leaders whose degrees are real, who can do press conferences,
29:36who can address the nation, and will not do midnight reels while the students are on the street,
29:40and will beat the students in daytime.
29:42So, this election in Uttar Pradesh is again a time to remind the country,
29:47that election should happen with real voters, not the fake propaganda that BJP runs,
29:52not on the fake voter rolls that Ganesh Gupta and Amit Shah can cook together,
29:56as per their conspiracies.
30:00All right, okay, last one minute, Mr. Habibullah, make your point, sir.
30:04Yes, I mean, again reiterating the fact that it's quite upsetting to see, you know, election process,
30:10when people not talking about the election process and discussing the election process,
30:14and discussing communal politics rather than the election process.
30:18We all know that the election process, there's something gone wrong with the election process.
30:22We're all highlighting that. We all want all of India to have a chance to vote.
30:29It doesn't mean that Muslim has a right to vote, or Hindu has a right to vote, or Sikh has
30:33a right to vote.
30:34We want everybody to have a right to vote. That's the constitutional right of everybody.
30:38So, I can't see why my political opponents are not standing up with India,
30:43and rather choose their political parties to stand up with.
30:47This is actually freedom, as far as I'm concerned, because the fact is that we know there's a problem,
30:53and we need to address the problem.
30:55Hindu Muslim is not going to solve the problem, unfortunately, for them,
30:58and they have to seriously look at what the problem is and how to solve it.
31:01The election process, SIR, yes, has gone wrong,
31:04but there are also a lot of other problems with the election process which need to be addressed.
31:08Okay, sorry, time is up.
31:09I thank all four of you for taking the time out this evening and joining us on this debate.
31:15Your interjections were much appreciated. Thank you so much.
31:18All right, let's quickly move on now.
31:48Let's quickly, once again, shift the focus on what it is for all of us who are living in the
31:55Delhi NCR region.
31:56If this isn't a capital punishment, which is slow death, then what is?
32:00Once again, focusing on the pollution, especially now post-Diwali.
32:05The crisis is raising serious questions, not just about the city's toxic air, but about data tracking it.
32:11Delhi recorded its worst Diwali air quality in five years, but as pollution spiked,
32:16dozens of monitoring stations stopped reporting readings.
32:21An India Today reality check also found firecracker restrictions being openly flouted.
32:27Look at this report.
32:32Delhi NCR is still reeling from the Diwali pollution assault.
32:39The air remains toxic, the skies remain hazy, and the battle to clean up the capital is now being fought
32:46with anti-smog guns.
32:50But the real question is, just how bad did the air get on Diwali night?
32:56This Diwali was Delhi's most polluted in five years.
33:02The capital recorded an average AQI of 376 on Diwali, the worst since 2021.
33:10And even as a city choked, a disturbing pattern emerged in its pollution monitoring network.
33:17As pollution levels climbed, the number of monitoring stations not reporting readings kept rising.
33:26Seven stations went missing from the data at 10pm, 23 by 11pm, 29 at midnight.
33:35And by 1am, 36 out of Delhi's 59 monitoring stations were not reporting readings.
33:42An analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air found 227 missing hourly observations across 59 stations
33:52between midnight and 5am.
33:55At the very time, Delhi needed accurate pollution readings the most.
34:01Crucial data was missing.
34:03And that's not all.
34:04An India Today reality check found firecracker restrictions being openly flouted.
34:09The Supreme Court had allowed only green crackers between 8 and 10pm.
34:16But bursting continued well beyond the deadline.
34:23So, you can see that it is way past 11.
34:27This is what?
34:2911.32.
34:31People are still bursting crackers.
34:36Norms are always flouted.
34:38And we never see something which is under control or anything which people can actually moderate.
34:48Monitoring stations going silent.
34:51Court orders flouted.
34:52And now a political blame game.
34:55The opposition has accused the BJP government of tampering with AQI data.
35:00The BJP meanwhile has pointed to stubble burning and pollution sources beyond Delhi.
35:10The
35:10The
35:10The
35:10The
35:37Thank you very much.
35:53but as neta's trade charges telly continues to choke every breath is a health risk every day
36:01a battle against toxic air the politicians pass the buck but it is citizens who breathe the
36:08consequences and pay the price vishriya chatterjee bureau report india today
36:19all right so is the government fudging data also how much are the farm fires in panjab adding to
36:25delhi's pollution taking it across to our panelists uh nitin thayagi spokesperson delhi bjp somnath
36:30bharati senior leader from the ama admi party and ex-law minister delhi government but before i cut
36:35across to the both of you i want to bring in my colleague shriya chatterjee who's been filing
36:38reports after reports ever since uh diwali and before that so sure let me take this question
36:42to you away from all the political rhetoric what is it that you observed is there a missing link
36:48where delhi's aqi data is concerned well absolutely pretty there is uh the data was not there before
36:54and even when i had the ground on the night of diwali because that's exactly when the pollution
36:58level soared two of the monitoring stations that i reached was not transmitting live data even on the
37:03uh monitor that is located physically we did not find that that was in dwarka sector eight and one
37:08was uh uh at the mossum bhavan uh lodhi road uh now uh after all these reports that we've actually
37:15uh
37:15done me and other people from uh the industry we have seen the dpcc finally release the data
37:21uh late last night and the numbers are scary uh at mundka it rose to 3700 plus uh uh ugm
37:29that is 60
37:30times the national average that is a very scary figure and uh this is uh i mean almost across delhi
37:373000 2000 this is the pm 2.5 level that was monitored during the diwali night so it is clear
37:43that uh
37:44crackers did add to an existing problem yes delhi was already polluted uh but like i have been saying
37:50since yesterday that when your house is on fire uh you don't mess up even more and uh we did
37:56see
37:56that the data goes missing because the way we calculate data we take it on a 24 hour rolling
38:02average so if a missing number is uh i mean it's not there that average will also get tweaked so
38:08clearly after the reports uh one thing is positive the dpcc did release the data which was as late as
38:14uh 8 pm last night but what you're suggesting is even that data because there was a missing
38:18uh a number of hours on that data that data is also fairly compromised is that what you're saying
38:23yes i mean if i mean the way we calculate the aqi we take a 24 hour rolling average so
38:28even if say a spike is happening uh it will not be translating into the live dashboard for example
38:33when i was doing the report uh at dwarka uh station it was showing close to 1700 plus uh uh
38:40pm 2.5 at
38:4111 pm but the same was translating to an aqi of 403 so this is because we take a 24
38:46hours rolling average
38:47now if there are few several hours of data which is the granular live data which goes missing
38:52then your average will also automatically change fair point mr tyagi i don't even want you to get
38:57into a political debate first but i think uh you have someone who's been on the roads for the last
39:01three days looking at your monitoring stations and she says you're fudging data sir
39:08i don't think so nobody's fudging data uh nobody is trying to fudge any kind of data and i do
39:13not agree
39:14with that uh yes the pollution does spike whenever there uh crackers uh burst in uh on every diwali it
39:22happens it's not just this year every diwali anywhere in this country because primarily diwali happens
39:29in this country only and uh every diwali we see this kind of spike in pollution there's nothing you know
39:37uh you know my colleague shreya was on ground and she saw and i don't even need to say it
39:42she'll say
39:42it how many centers did you see shreya two centers two centers and your uh monitoring uh stations were
39:48not working two centers and you are only accusing the daily government of uh i do not understand that
39:53where this comes from no i'll tell you where it comes from it comes from the fact that two or
39:58three centers
40:19are we talking about diwali or are we talking about pollution as a whole sir we are talking about
40:25diwali night your stations were not working
40:28if we are talking about diwali we will not talk about parali that that means no let me okay let
40:33me talk about parali but you agree you fudge data on diwali so so will you will you no no
40:39why would
40:39i agree to that why would i agree to that if we are if we are talking about diwali all
40:44of us know that
40:45there's a huge spike on diwali night and there is a reason firecrackers are the reason that's why
40:50you shut off monitoring units that is why you shut off monitoring units nobody cut that off nobody
40:58got that off you did that's what we are that's what our colleagues are reporting on
41:03you cannot attribute a technical gift for funding the data no please do not you don't mix up two
41:08things this is not okay so how are we mixing two things we are just saying that your monitoring
41:12centers were not reflecting data neither online or in real time but let me move on okay you said
41:18okay sir classic political fashion let me shift the focus from diwali to parali and i will bring in
41:24somnath bharati in this conversation and in the morning it is just 200. somnath bharati the parali
41:29and the stubble burning in panjab and let's put out the figures there one might suggest it had come
41:35down dramatically but last three or four days there has been an astounding rise in stubble burning in
41:41panjab and that is the documented evidence sir good evening pritiji and good evening to my fellow
41:50panelists see the problem is first should be the admission that what exactly the concern is today
42:00bjp has government governments across whether it be center it be delhi it be neighboring states it be
42:07municipalities everywhere we have bjp now even now what they're doing they're accusing panjab which is
42:16500 kilometers away from delhi see panjab government because of its policies towards the farmers
42:24we have brought down from 79 000 instances of stubble burning in 2022 to today lesser than 5 000 as
42:34of
42:34uh recorded as of uh 8th of november 2026 but mr bharati's satellite imagery imagery clearly suggests that
42:42there has been a massive on the day two days before diwali and on diwali as well
42:50so tell me uh let's say there are two reports of central government itself one says that on the diwali
42:57night
42:59the wind flow was towards pakistan that the central government uh the figure itself second says the
43:07contribution of uh pollution from parali is about 3.5 percent from parali all right second thing
43:17tell me the parali burning can it uh sort of push the pollution towards delhi by flight did it take
43:27a
43:28flight uh from chandigarh and landed in delhi on the same day it takes at least three to four days
43:33for the
43:34pollution or for the burning to affect delhi that's the scientific data so we need to be talking about
43:41science not about mysticism that would say that say in the moment you burnt something in punjab it
43:47affected delhi that's not true third thing pritiji you know i was reading the data of center center's
43:54decisions decision support system it says gaji abad alone is contributing seven percent of the diwali night
44:01which is double the figure of uh uh punjab prali contribution imagine so who who needs to be
44:10blamed yogi ji is ruling uh uttar pradesh for last there is no blame there at all you want to
44:17come
44:18make your point yeah definitely so uh what mr sumana gati right now is trying to say that
44:23the panjab prali is being targeted to pollute sumanaji i've heard uh let me just interject and
44:32ask you one simple question first of all uh it was a fantastic gesture on panjab government's part
44:38that they are burning uh those parali uh to uh you know uh spoil the atmosphere of or the air
44:46of
44:46pakistan and not in uh delhi fantastic this is what you wanted to say because air is going towards
44:52pakistan not coming to delhi amazing thing because the question was you have not been able to curtail
44:57the parali burning at all the trouble burning at all while when you were had not won the election of
45:03panjab you uh you said categorically that in six months time uh there would be no trouble burning
45:09in panjab you would be using that some uh bio solution that you uh you know invented in tulsa
45:17and you will use it how much money has panjab government used in last five years to distribute
45:25that solution to the panjab farmers so that they do not burn the prali
45:31okay let me ask this question all right mrs sumnath bharti come in sir last comment
45:38pritiji the problem is that bjp has a grudge towards punjab farmers
45:43they are not understanding the punjab farmers have gone ahead
45:47sir please allow one by one one by one there's no point can i just get the faders down
45:51kindly permit me make your point kindly permit me
45:57so what i'm saying so they have not appreciated that from 89 000 to uh to we have we have
46:05come
46:05down to lesser than five thousand that's what is the progress of punjab government of amabhi party
46:12kwa parali burning second see though though he was nithin was a friend though he was not believing this is
46:20the center's information not somnath bhakti's you know information or his creation uh on the diwali night
46:29panjab in panjab the wind blow was towards pakistan fortunately so it didn't give you an opportunity
46:37to catch up on that as well so what i'm saying nithin you need to question the bjp you need
46:44to
46:44ask your own governments that look stop making excuses and you need to see actually when the
46:52aqy ai no no it's aqy not eiq it's aqy has reached 3000 then we need to be accountable and
47:02responsible towards people of delhi you need to have answers
47:05so you come back and then i'm going to get into a break a child please come make your point
47:08can i get
47:09me to that question he has absolutely no answer to the question he has no answer to the question
47:17not a single rupee amabhi party has spent in panjab on the solution that they used to claim
47:24if they are going to use to uh you know find a solution okay okay we are going to leave
47:30it at that
47:30because this game game is going to continue but ultimately i think uh for our viewers uh one
47:35should look at and be deeply worried on the report that my colleague shreya chatterjee
47:39filed and found and uh shreya in retrospect the figures are alarming you would suggest it is
47:45alarming if dpcc has released the data now it's crossing three thousand two thousand it was alarming
47:50on the night of diwali and priti i didn't see a single anti-smock gun single sprinkler when your
47:56city was most polluted that's something the government should also answer all right so that's
48:00something that the government should also answer because in midst of all this politicking and blame
48:03game the collateral is always the citizen and well that's how it has panned out till now