Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday shut Chetan Bhagat up on Twitter after the latter once again made desperate attempts to communalise the Supreme Court’s order banning the sale of firecrackers this Diwali in Delhi and ajoining cities such as Gurgaon and Noida.
The Supreme Court on Monday had maintained that its last year’s order banning the sale of firecrackers in the National Capital Region of Delhi will stand. The order was keeping the alarming rise in air pollution post Diwali due to firecrackers adding poison in the environment. The air in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida becomes impossible to breathe post Diwali every year.
Bhagat, who lives in Mumbai and is known for posting communally divisive tweets, took exception to the Supreme Court’s order. He wrote, “Can I just ask on cracker ban. Why only guts to do this for Hindu festivals? Banning goat sacrifice and Muharram bloodshed soon too?”
Tharoor replied to his tweet reminding him that firecrackers was an add-on to Diwali celebration and they were not an integral part of the festival as slaughtering animals during Baqr-Eid is.
The Congress MP from Kerala wrote, “Your examples of practices integral to those observances; banning them would be like banning lamps onDiwali. Firecrackers are unholy add-ons.”
Bhagat objecting to Supreme Court’s order, which was passed keeping the health of people living in Delhi NCR in mind, is not an isolated incident. Many BJP functionaries and supporters on Twitter have vehemently protested the order and said they will bring firecrackers from outside Delhi to defy the Supreme Court’s judgement.
One Twitter troll and BJP spokesperson even sought monetary contribution from his supporters so that he could purchase firecrackers and distribute among slum children in Diwali. Tajinder Bagga later claimed he had received Rs 80,000 in just 7 hours from his supporters. He posted the screenshots of the payment received, where most of his supporters said they were donating generously because they felt it was for a noble cause.
