Chetan Bhagat denounces SC verdict banning Diwali firecrackers, asks why restrictions only on Hindu festivals

After the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that there will be no sale of firecrackers during the Diwali festival in the National Capital Region, author Chetan Bhagat took to Twitter to denounce the verdict.

In a series of tweets, Bhagat compared the ban on firecrackers to banning Christmas trees on Christmas or goat slaughter on Bakri Eid. Bhagat further questioned why the judiciary does not curb bloodshed on Eid and Muharram.

SC bans fireworks on Diwali? A full ban? What’s Diwali for children without crackers?

— 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

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

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

Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag too seemed to have put his weight behind those opposing the ban on firecracker sale.

RT if this year you will celebrate Diwali extra dhoom dhaam se.

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 9, 2017

Yuvraj Singh, however, supported the apex court’s decision and urged Indians to celebrate a pollution-free Diwali

While delivering the verdict, the bench headed by Justice AK Sikri said its November 2016 order on the same issue would continue to operate. “We should see at least in one Diwali the impact of a cracker-free festivity,” Sikri said while reading out the verdict.

The apex court said its November 2016 order banning the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) will continue till 31 October. Diwali is on 19 October and the order effectively means that no firecrackers will be available for purchase before the festival.

All temporary licenses to sell firecrackers stand cancelled. No sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR from today: Haripriya Padmanabhan, Lawyer pic.twitter.com/66CrTFFE80

— ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2017

The top court said it has not changed the 12 September order but its 11 November, 2016 order banning the sale of firecrackers “should be given a chance”.

The top court, through the 2016 order, had suspended all licences which “permit sale of fireworks, wholesale and retail within the territory of NCR”.

With inputs from agencies