‘Why just crackers? Ban Muharram bloodshed too’: Chetan Bhagat triggers debate on Twitter

The Supreme Court’s order banning sale of fire crackers in Delhi-NCR till November 1 prompted a flurry of mixed reactions on social media on Monday. While many lauded the apex court’s efforts to save the city from being engulfed in toxic haze like last year, several saw the order as a dampener on Diwali celebrations.

Among the many miffed, was author and columnist Chetan Bhagat who took to Twitter to raise questions that resonated with a large number of people.

Bhagat, an active Twitter user, started a thread by asking the SC (and Twitter) what Diwali was for children without crackers. He was slammed by several users who tweeted saying Diwali was supposed to be a festival of lights, not pollution, a festival where children could breathe properly.

Bhagat, however, had an answer ready for every question thrown at him. The 43-year-old said the need of the hour was to innovate. He said car aggregators, such as Uber, and unchecked vehicle polluters caused more pollution on a daily basis. Twitter user @Crimson_Bud rued the delay in the ban and said it should have been put in place months ago to save vendors from unemployment.

Bhagat then went on to draw a parallel between the firecracker ban and banning trees on Christmas or goats on Bakr-Eid. The screenwriter said he wanted to see people who support the ban to show the same passion in reforming other festivals full of ‘blood and gore’.

Politician Shashi Tharoor also reacted to Bhagat’s tirade:

To which Bhagat asked who “decided what makes a part of a celebration, done for generations, suddenly unholy? And the courts should ban it?”

Here is a chronological list of Bhagat’s tweets

Bhagat ended his thread by tweeting that many people who describe themselves as ‘open minded, liberal and tolerant’ were ‘ganging up like a mob and abusing the hell out of me today.’

The festival of light falls on October 19 this year.

There is no prohibition on lighting celebratory firecrackers or their sale outside the National Capital Region except 23 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and Rajasthan, and 14 districts in Gurgaon.