Why the anger against the cracker ban is justified, but defiance is not.
The Supreme Court of India, in a welcome but puzzling decision banned the sale of firecrackers in the National Capital Region till the 31st of October. After the decision, the court itself observed that “Sale of firecrackers which has already taken place before the ban order. People will burst it and that will be sufficient. Anyhow, it is not going to be a cracker-free Diwali”. The decision itself was welcomed by all educated and sane residents of Delhi who have woken up every morning the next day after Diwali only to bear the worst of smog and alarming pollution levels which also coincide with farmers bring their paddy fields after harvest to get potassium into the soil.
The decision of the court, largely welcomed by the educated class, was a body blow to the sellers and traders whose entire sale and revenue model is based entirely on Diwali week. Both support and dissent trickled in and crackers were burst regardless, in total and conscious violation of the court order on Diwali night. Some questions were rightly raised, if the entire point of the cracker ban was to discourage pollution, why did the Apex court wait till October to furnish this order? Doing this not only ensured that livelihood and financial planning for entire families will be threatened and crippled for an entire year, it also brought forward the somewhat justified but retrograde argument of selective targeting. The most alarming by-product of this ban was the unnecessary attempt to make the issue communal by opportunist elements. Most asked the unfortunate question that if the ban on the cracker sale was to curb pollution to prove some other unknown point? Given the court itself observed that it is not going to be a cracker-free Diwali.
Diwali is a festival of lights, and not crackers. Pollution in the National Capital remains an unquestionable reality. Most living in Delhi understood this well before any ban and others were beginning to understand this over the years. But the terrible timing of this decision made it a field day for opportunists to turn the issue communal. Now, a largely ignorant and ego driven society that is a portion of Delhi’s Middle Class burst crackers purely to violate the order in a show of short sighted defiance. They may show support toward the livelihood of of the sellers and traders who were affected by the order but everyone knows that is only semantics. The same person that will burst crackers in a show of solidarity for the traders will haggle with the poor over diyas and small change they would easily splurge on other things. The worst side effect of this ban was the apparent and very clear attempt to use victimization by unscrupulous elements to make it look like an attack on the Hindu Community. Such methods have been used to victimize minorities very successfully for generations. It is appalling that this very tactic is now being used to make Hindus feel threatened and victimized, and even more appalling that most people are falling for the very clear and motivated emotional manipulation.
The Honorable Court’s decision, ill timed but very welcome as it was — has made every citizen now question what the whole point of the order was? People still burst crackers in a show of ignorant defiance. It was already observed that the same bench that the that the festival will not be cracker-less by the same bench that issued the order in the first place. The pollution levels remained more or less about as close to safe levels as Neptune is to Earth. What we got in return, was that the decision complicated more things than it solved, it managed to give an opportunity and voice to vicious and malicious elements in society to emotionally manipulate people into feeling that their freedom and culture is under threat. It has also very rightly set the stage to question the mass slaughter of animals during Eid Celebrations. Most will now very rightly petition against the barbaric slaughter, and no matter what the conclusions — the fringe on both sides will have a field day.
