Is The Cracker Ban Justified?

Diwali – the festival of lights is unarguably the biggest festival in India. It is the festival to celebrate the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya, post defeating Ravana. It is considered to be a festival to celebrate the victory of good over evil. It is considered an auspicious time to buy just about anything from new clothes, vehicles to electronic goods. It is a time when Indians across all religions exchange sweets, visit each other’s homes, play cards, pray & burst crackers. It goes without saying that anything which messes with Diwali festivities will lead to a strong reaction from the public.




It has been almost a week since the honorable SC, passed a judgement banning sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR. Social media erupted with mixed reactions for the verdict. While many right wing groups protested the move, several came out in support of the judgement as well.
On one hand, some noted leftist journos, celebrities who had previously lashed out at a noted singer for tweeting against loud speakers blaring the morning azaan & giving it a communal hue, (the singer had mentioned in his tweets that he had an issue with loud speakers being part of religious activities of all religions)were now lauding the SC verdict. If the elitist, Lutyens Delhi media is to be believed noise pollution, which is a daily occurence is fine, but air pollution caused due to bursting crackers for one or two days in a calendar year is unbearable. One cannot really blame the right wingers for being miffed with the leftist media of the country over their partisanship. Although mainstream media of the country is largely leftist & would like to make you believe their distorted version of the truth, the major chunk of the country’s population is not aligned with their way of thinking. Which can be seen from the way mainstream media called demonetisation a failure, but the voters proved them wrong by awarding a thumping majority to the BJP. It can thus be safely said that the mainstream media is just not in sync with the country.



The right wingers in the country on the other hand, went on the overdrive criticizing the SC over its judgement. None of them were ready to debate on the merits of the case & instead were instigating the SC to curb religious rituals of muslims as well. Which is outright absurd. Any celeb who supported the SC judgement was subjected to personal attacks questioning their choice of automobile & food choices. A stand up comic rightly tweeted,

” Parent to child 1: Eating junk food is not good for you. Don’t eat it.
Child 1: Why are you stopping me? You never stop child 2 from doing anything. Stop him first”
A noted novelist too joined the fray in criticizing the SC verdict & gave nudged the SC to pass a verdict curbing Bakri-Eid or Muharram festivities.

Our Opinion: The SC should have passed the verdict several months in advance & not just weeks before Diwali. This judgment has led to traders suffering huge losses & several people getting unemployed. Imagine being out of a job during Diwali!
But to counter the SC verdict by nudging it to curb festive practices of other religions is plain wrong. Firstly, meat is consumed on a daily basis by Hindus as well. Sacrificing goats does not really add to pollution as much as bursting crackers does. Secondly, air pollution is a serious issue in Delhi-NCR. Strong measures need to be taken to curb air pollution if we intend to leave a pollution free city for our children. We can celebrate the festival by just lighting diyas as well. This Diwali lets celebrate our victory over air pollution.