Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has publicly described Delhi as a “gas chamber”, a comment that would embarrass the top brass of his party that helms the capital’s civic bodies, the state government and the Centre.

Adityanath, widely seen as a contender for the position of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s successor, favourably compared the air quality in his hometown Gorakhpur to Delhi’s.

He praised his government’s “balanced” approach to development and appeared to fault Delhi for “disturbing the environment”.

“You go to Delhi; what is the situation there? As if we are in a gas chamber. The AQI (air quality index) is above 400 (in Delhi). We feel suffocated there,” he said in Gorakhpur on Saturday.

“There is irritation in our eyes. We face problems breathing. The old, the unwell and children are advised not to venture out of home. The situation is so bad.”

A BJP leader in Lucknow said the remarks had left his party nonplussed. He conjectured that Adityanath may have felt a need to “make his presence felt with a sharp remark”.

A political analyst in Delhi suggested the chief minister might be keen on projecting his own “development model”, much as Modi had risen politically plugging his “Gujarat model”, to gain an edge in the race with Union home minister Amit Shah to become the Prime Minister’s successor.

Adityanath’s remarks on his own development policy appeared to support this.

“You see the environment here (Gorakhpur), how good it is. There is no disease when there is no pollution. The lungs would be affected if there were pollution. The whole body would be disturbed if the organ that supplies oxygen is not working,” he said.

“The environment is wonderful in Gorakhpur. There is no pollution here — you can go to any place (in Gorakhpur district). You protect the environment and the environment will protect you. Mother Earth will bless you so that you can flourish if you fulfil your responsibilities towards Her.”

The extremely high air pollution in Delhi — particularly in winter — has prompted the Supreme Court to pass strictures against stubble burning and nudge successive governments to act.

The Opposition had got the government to agree to debate the subject in Parliament during the last winter session, but protests over other matters caused the House to be adjourned.

According to Central Pollution Control Board figures, the AQI at Anand Vihar in Delhi was 239 at 6pm on Sunday — when air pollution tends to be lower — and 97 at the M.M. Malaviya University of Technology in Gorakhpur.

According to the National Air Quality Index, readings between 50 and 100 are “satisfactory” and those between 201 and 300 are “poor”.

Adityanath was speaking after inaugurating a ₹2.47-crore auditorium in Gorakhpur city. He said it was his government’s concern for the environment that had prompted it to start building the Forestry and Horticulture University in Campierganj, Gorakhpur, last year.

“It (air pollution) is bound to happen when we interfere with the environment…. We are fortunate that there is development here (Gorakhpur) but still the atmosphere is not suffocating (unlike Delhi),” he said.

Earlier in the day, inaugurating a new block office building in Campierganj, 38km north of Gorakhpur city, Adityanath had said his government was focused on “balanced development” of the district and the state.

“Yogi Adityanath has exposed the BJP on the issue of pollution,” Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh posted on X.

“Did Adityanathji forget that there is a BJP government in Delhi, or did he make this statement deliberately against Modi and (Delhi chief minister) Rekha Gupta
government?”