New Delhi – The Congress party has raised a strong alarm over Delhi's air pollution, calling it a “slow poison” that is making the city “no longer habitable.” Senior Congress leader and ex-East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit urged the Centre to treat this crisis as a “national problem.” Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, he demanded urgent cross-party talks and an MP-level committee to create a long-term solution for the city’s toxic air. Mr. Dikshit said doctors warn that Delhi’s poisonous air cuts the average life span by six to seven years and puts sick people at high risk. He criticised both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), accusing them of playing competitive politics instead of solving the problem. “The government should control pollution, and if they are unable to do this, they have no right to be called a government,” he said. “Stop misleading the public, because due to air pollution, this city is no longer habitable.” He dismissed stubble burning and Diwali fireworks as minor causes, explaining that only a small part of pollution comes from them. The major culprit, Mr. Dikshit said, is vehicular pollution which happens all year and makes up about 35 percent of the problem. He blamed BJP and AAP governments for poor road conditions and a failing public transport system. “When Delhi was developing, traffic speed was 35 to 40 km/h. Today, traffic has slowed and vehicular pollution has increased by two and a half times,” he said. Mr. Dikshit also pointed fingers at illegal industries using dirty fuel, garbage burning across Delhi, and the scrapping of waste-to-energy projects. He alleged that Arvind Kejriwal stopped such projects by falsely claiming their smoke causes cancer. He said money must be spent on roads, buses, and the metro instead of freebies. “You will get enough time for populist politics later,” he added. Echoing Rahul Gandhi’s call, Mr. Dikshit asked for a detailed parliamentary debate and a committee involving all parties. He also appealed to Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor to unite people and make this a public movement. Rahul Gandhi recently met mothers worried about their children’s health and criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the issue, calling it a “health emergency” needing a “strict, enforceable action plan.”