How Diwali fireworks have become a political issue during Delhi’s annual air pollution crisis

Upcoming Diwali celebration has experts warning against usage of firecrackers, much to chagrin of India’s right-wing political activists who see it as an attack on their faith, Arpan Rai reports

Children play with sparklers as they celebrate the Hindu festival Diwali or the Festival of Lights in New Delhi (AFP via Getty Images)

Delhi’s annual toxic air issues are often aggravated during the festival of Diwali when tens of thousands of firecrackers light up the national capital’s hazy, night sky.

The upcoming celebrations for the Hindu festival this weekend have experts warning against the usage of firecrackers, much to the chagrin of India’s right-wing political activists who see it as an unfair attack on their faith.

Delhi consistently becomes the world’s most polluted city every winter due to a variety of factors. Air quality rankings frequently declare pollution levels in the city to be at “severe” levels.

After Diwali, reports typically emerge of the national capital’s air quality deteriorating beyond “severe” levels.

India’s Supreme Court also bans chemically polluting firecrackers in Delhi every year. The top court this year said the ban applies across India.

But right-wing political activists tell The Independent that firecracker bans are an “attack on Hindu festivals” and the administration should look at the other factors that contribute to air pollution.

Diwali marks the day Hindu deity Lord Ram returned to his home in Ayodhya after 14 years in exile. To celebrate the festival, people usually light earthen lamps and decorate their homes.

But the extensive use of firecrackers have altered the nature of the festivities in the last few decades.

Several members of prime minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other political groups say firecrackers are readily available despite police crackdowns and bans.

A girl lights an earthen lamp beside a rangoli, a hand decorated pattern on the floor, as part of Diwali festivities in Ahmedabad on 9 November (AP)

Rohit Baisoya, a Delhi BJP member, tells The Independent there is no barrier to sourcing firecrackers. “You can call anyone who has purchased [crackers] and they will link you to the seller. These people are offering pick-up services for bulk orders of firecrackers,” he says.

“You should prepare to see a grand use of firecrackers this time. We all know people who are buying and storing firecrackers in advance.

“You can buy the banned ones over phone call, collect them from discreet locations,” he says.

“The stockpiles are ready, come what may.”

The Independent had reported on how smugglers flouted Delhi’s Diwali fireworks ban last year. Such illegal sales have also thrived this year – and they are just a phone call away.

According to Manoj Verma, a former member of right-wing outfit Bajrang Dal, a vast majority of the city’s Hindu population believes fireworks should not stop as they interfere with their cultural traditions.

While a 2016 research study from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, attributed firecrackers as a relatively small factor behind Delhi’s annual air crisis, a judge of the Supreme Court had rebuffed this in 2021.

“Do you need IIT to understand that firecrackers impact your health?” Supreme Court justice AM Khanwilkar had asked a lawyer arguing against the firecracker ban.

“Ask someone staying in Delhi what happens during Diwali,” he had said.

Doctors in the capital city say there are not just life spans being shortened, but also exponential increases in cancer cases because of Delhi’s air pollution.

In this picture taken on 7 November 2023, a doctor (not pictured) examines the X-ray of child with breathing difficulties at the emergency ward of the government-run Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya children hospital in New Delhi (AFP via Getty Images)

“The problem with pollution is it has a lot of harmful effects, a lot of them are unseen. What we see is mostly the tip of the iceberg. Cold, cough, runny nose, asthma etc,” says Shalabh Sharma, a ear-nose-throat doctor at central Delhi’s premier Ganga Ram Hospital.

“What we also have seen in the last 10-15 years is quite a large increase in the cancer cases of different organs reported and at ages it would not be seen earlier.”

He says the graph of the percentage of patients who have bronchial infections, inflammation or allergy has shot up in these years and, while pollution from various sources is to be blamed for this, firecrackers cannot be ruled out as part of the problem.

“Diwali was never, even mythologically in ancient texts, about burning firecrackers. It’s just a trend from the last 30-40 years,” he tells The Independent.

“When you burn something, it’s a direct cause of pollution. People who are asthmatic, with bronchial troubles or heart problems – they suffer tremendously.

“There should be a total ban on firecrackers,” he says.

The Akshardham temple is seen amid heavy smog conditions in New Delhi on 9 November (AFP via Getty Images)

“Previously the studies showed that the pollution in Delhi decreased the average life span by four five years, now the loss of average lifespan for a Delhiite is six to seven years.”

Inadequate stop-gap policies by Delhi’s administration, currently under the BJP’s rival Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), have failed to address Delhi’s air quality issues that get better only until the arrival of better weather conditions or spring.

“The world is watching Delhi and since the last 10 days, the situation of AQI in Delhi-NCR is the worst and not even one firecracker has been burnt,” Manoj Tiwai, a prominent BJP federal lawmaker from Delhi tells The Independent.

“So why blame only firecrackers?” he questions.

“One day of celebration of Diwali with green firecrackers should be allowed in Bharat [one of the terms by which India is called in the Hindi language], as this is our religious belief.

“I have approached the Supreme Court also in this case to allow green firecrackers in Delhi.”

Vinod Bansal, a member of right-wing organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), says “the mentality is to constantly attack Hindu festivals”.

“Why is there no ban on Eid and Christmas? It’s not like the firecrackers won’t cause pollution then,” he says, without providing evidence that crackers are burst as frequently during the celebration of these festivals.

India is home to about 94 per cent of the world’s Hindu population, according to the Pew Research Center.

Bansal says the ban on fireworks play with the sentiments of people who want to celebrate these festivals.

A farmer works at a farm land on Yamuna river bed in heavy smog in New Delhi on 8 November (EPA)

Verma, a current VHP member, outrightly dubs the ban on firecrackers by the top court as “propaganda”.

“Why only on Hindu festivals? Firecrackers are a symbol of enjoyment. Will this pollution stop only by ban? Firecrackers have been a part of Diwali celebration for years. Our Hindu culture has solutions for everything, including environmental problems but such bans are not one of them,” he tells The Independent.

Verma does not specify solutions for Delhi’s air pollution crisis.

“[Political] leaders pit these two communities [Hindus and Muslims] against each other while not addressing and acting on the various sources of pollution,” says Sunil Dahiya, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

“Politically motivated people use this opportunity of failing policies and the industrial sector’s greed to justify the burning of firecrackers,” he says.

“People should not be fooled by the big polluters and shouldn’t let them hide behind the blame game.”

Schools have been shut, construction halted and polluting vehicles have been stationed outside the capital city’s borders, as officials’ latest attempt at a short-term measure involves artificially inducing rain at around 20 November.

Residents, meanwhile, rely on air purifiers, but others who cannot afford the technology have continued to suffer from headaches, scratchy throats and itchy eyes.