During a Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the candidates standing in the upcoming elections of the US, the former slammed the latter’s plans to fight the global problem of climate change and air pollution. Further in his prosecution, the present President of the US called India’s air as “filthy”, Along with India, he slammed Russia and China as well. His remarks were brought in when he spoke about his reasons to walk out of the Paris Accord.
“Look at China, how filthy it is, Look at Russia, Look at India. The air is filthy. I walked out of the Paris Accord as we had to take out trillions of dollars and we were treated very unfairly,” Trump said in his debate, which marks the final one before the polls in November.
The debate was broadcasted on television and saw the two rivals not shaking hands after the event in view of the infection risk.
Joe Biden’s retaliated to the blame game and said that it’s an “existential threat to humanity” and everyone has a “moral obligation” to work on it. He gave a reality check and said humans are going to reach the point of no return in a matter of eight to ten years as far as climate change is concerned.
Trump’s remarks have been met with sheer anger and criticism in India while many others have asked to introspect on the current situation and work to ensure that the tag of being “filthy” gets removed from India’s collar.
The US’ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper are due to visit the capital, New Delhi, in a few days, to discuss on ways to tighten the partnership between US and India.
This was not the first time when the US President used ill terms for referring to India. He had slammed India in the first debate, saying that India is hiding its coronavirus induced death numbers.
“When you talk about numbers you don’t know how many people died in China, you don’t know how many people died in Russia, you don’t know how many people died in India. They don’t exactly give you a straight count,” he said.
Along with angry reactions against the brutal remarks, few even urged Narendra Modi to retort and give a befitting reply to Trump.
BBC News reported that while Trump’s comments might not hold to be completely true for China, India fits into the remarks well due to Delhi and its increasingly dangerous air with many residents complaining of respiratory problems.
The US President’s comments also drew sharp reactions from opposition party leaders like Congress’ Kapil Sibal, who took the incident to compare it with Modi and his bond with Trump. He said the remarks were the “fruits of his friendship with Trump”.
Narendra Modi had held a grand event for welcoming Donald Trump to India in his last visit spending thousands of crores in the lavish set-up for his stay.
Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, tweeted saying, “What an unfortunate comment to make about India, @realDonaldTrump.
Reminder: India stands committed to climate change goals, the US chose to withdraw, much against the wishes of many Americans. Thank you.”
The mention was about the Paris Accord of the 2015 agreement for climate, which was signed globally by many countries to rescue the world from the growing issues of climate change. Its objective is to cap the global warming bar “well below” 2 degrees C.
Trump has often held India and China responsible for not playing a part in controlling climate change.
Currently, India stands at the fourth spot in emitting the highest amount of carbon dioxide in the air, polluting it further and making human life deadlier.
On the other side, air pollution has been proved to be a contributing factor for getting infected with the coronavirus. Many researchers have warned India of its growing pollution levels and said that it will only hamper the fight with the virus and prove to be more fatal.
