News Desk |
Irked over the ban of firecrackers by Indian Supreme Court on the occasion of Diwali, infuriated Indian columnist and author Chetan Bhagat, has demanded the Supreme Court to ban the Muharram bloodshed too.
Indian Supreme Court recently imposed a ban on the use and sale of firecrackers till 1st November. The reason cited for the ban was to reduce the air pollution and to avoid the city getting engulfed in smoke. The decision had a mixed reaction from the public. While many lauded the apex court’s decision, a group of people expressed their discontentment over the ban.
SC bans fireworks on Diwali? A full ban? What’s Diwali for children without crackers?
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 9, 2017
Bhagat, an active user of Twitter, took to his social media account and brought to question the intentions behind the imposition of ban.
Banning crackers on Diwali is like banning Christmas trees on Christmas and goats on Bakr-Eid. Regulate. Don’t ban. Respect traditions.
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 9, 2017
Can I just ask on cracker ban. Why only guts to do this for Hindu festivals? Banning goat sacrifice and Muharram bloodshed soon too?
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 9, 2017
He started a thread asking, ‘What’s Diwali for the children without crackers?’ Unsurprisingly, the man was slammed with criticism. Where a respondent clarified his confusion in a tweet which said, ‘Diwali is the occasion of light, not of noise and air pollution, a festival where children could breathe properly.’
False equivalence. Bursting crackers has nothing to do with the Diwali tradition.The very word ‘Diwali’ means ‘light’. Lighting diyas=Diwali https://t.co/Lmsu45fAXV
— Prerna Bakshi (@bprerna) October 9, 2017
It’s a festival of lights. Not noise or air pollution. You’re supposedly an IITian. Do you know what causes pollution? Burning crackers.
— Priyanka (@autumnrainwish) October 9, 2017
Bhagat answered with a more controversial tweet that remarked that ban on the sale of firecrackers is similar to imposing a ban on the sacrifice of a goat on Bakr-Eid and Christmas trees on Christmas.
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Giving the ban an impression of rousing religious conflict, Bhagat said that why such imposition of ban is on Hindu festival only, the ban should be imposed on Muharram bloodshed too.
I want to see people who fight to remove crackers for Diwali show the same passion in reforming other festivals full of blood and gore.
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 9, 2017
He then concluded his argument by saying that there is no need to make religion guilty for contributing to the city’ environmental woes, rather there is a need to innovate. His ideas, however, resonated with a large number of people.
Many people who describe themselves as open minded, liberal and tolerant are ganging up like a mob and abusing the hell out of me today
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 9, 2017
India has been witnessing a rise of Hindu nationalism and religious sentiments which reflect an impression of falling harmonious co-existence of religious minorities.