I am someone who has always loved to burn firecrackers. As a kid I always used to wait for Diwali to get my hands on the crackers brought by my father and used to enjoy burning them. In fact this used to be the highlight of Diwali for me. In some ways that child is still there in me who still wishes to burn crackers and it is hard for me to let go of that urge.
When I look at the raging debate surrounding the #firecrackerban by the Supreme Court, I see two strands. One, which argues in the favour of the ban citing environmental reasons and two, which argues against the ban citing cultural and religious reasons.
Well as far as I am concerned, the environmental reasoning is obviously sound. Since past two years I have been living in Delhi and I have seen the deterioration of the air quality before and after Diwali first hand.So much so that my office had to install air filters so as to make the air breathable. Granted, that the deterioration in the air quality is not brought about solely by burning crackers and there are other factors like burning of hay in the nearby villages of NCR etc also contributing to it, still it is an inescapable fact that air quality deteriorates due to firecrackers burning and that to me is a legitimate reason for banning the crackers and it’s a no brainer. I must admit that I never realised that crackers could bring about such deterioration in air quality until I came to Delhi and saw it first hand. But now I know. I breathed that air last year and trust me it’s horrible.
But you know what is even more horrible? Linking this issue to religion. There are some people and websites like The Frustrated Indian who are hell bent on turning an obvious environmental problem into a non existent religious issue. Their argument is that it’s somehow an attack on the religious freedom of the Hindus to celebrate their festivals as they like. They also go to the extent of calling it a systematic erosion of Hinduism (Lol). I don’t even know what that means! Then there is your usual dose of whataboutery that why are only Hindus being targeted and not other religions and the like. Frankly, this is nothing but vile propaganda. The debate on Azaan creating noise pollution, Holi wasting water, Bakrid being cruel to animals is an ongoing one and these issues are raised all the time. So there is no point in crying hoarse that only Hindus are being targeted. Also this is the same group that raised a hue and cry that Muslims should accept the verdict on Triple Talaq without making a fuss because it was a verdict from the highest court of India. So why make a fuss now? As in the Triple Talaq verdict, or like the verdict making it mandatory to use CNG in the capital, the ban on crackers is a progressive one and it should be respected as such.
और हाँ। भाई नहीं मानना है तो मत मानो। फोड़ो पटाखे। किसी ने नहीं रोका है। बस ये religion का रोना बंद करो। एक दिन पटाखे नहीं फूटेंगे तो हिंदू धर्म खतरे में नहीं आ जाएगा।