Mindblowing analysis : Should we really ban crackers or not?

Deepavali is a festival of lights. It signifies the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair. It’s mainly celebrated by lighting millions of lamps over the housetops, outside doors and windows, temples and other buildings in the society. You can see the best out of people’s fashion knowledge on Deepavali. All family members gather together, attend puja, distribute sweets and have a grand feast.

Deepavali dates back to ancient India. It is celebrated with lights to be a reminder of importance of knowledge, self-inquiry, self-improvement, knowing and seeking of good and the right path. It has always been a metaphor for resisting evil, dispelling darkness and for compassion to others. Deepavali is the celebration of inner light over spiritual darkness, of knowledge over ignorance and right over wrong. It is a festive restatement of high held Hindu belief that good ultimately triumphs over evil.

There are many mythological references to the origin of Deepavali. According to Bhagawata Deepavali is celebrated as the death anniversary of Narakasura. Before dying he asked Krishna for a boon that the people of Earth should never forget him and his death anniversary be ordained as a day of celebration. He wanted people to light up their houses, wear new clothes and eat sweets so that when people remember his name they should think of only good and not evil. According to Valmiki Ramayana, it is said to be the celebration by the people of Ayodhya over the return of their long gone Prince Rama and also his victory in the battle against the demon king Ravana. 

Nowadays there’s lot of buzz going on about the usage of fire crackers on the occasion of Deepavali. Feeding the fire, SC of India has banned the sale of crackers in Delhi till Oct 30. We’ve been seeing lot of opposition to this action by SC, but also there are people who support it. People are treating it as an attack on Hinduism itself. People have started asking questions about Hindus being targeted since Deepavali is one of the biggest Hindu festival and festivals of no other religion in India face any such restrictions on their celebration. 

But is it really required to use fire crackers to celebrate Deepavali!!?? Is it not possible to celebrate Deepavali by just lighting lamps and distributing sweets and make it eco-friendly!!? Is it just to compare bursting of crackers to the sacrificial of goats during Bakrid or using X-mas trees during Christmas!? Why people who support “Cracker ban” are termed as leftists!? Why people who support the decision of SC are termed as Anti-Hindus!!? Why do people have to think the ban of Crackers as an attack on Hinduism?

Officially, first cracker was invented in the year 1792. Weren’t people celebrating Deepavali before? Let’s just assume that people were using crackers in India long before that, prepared from a long lost technology. But haven’t the conditions changed now?  We are on the verge of Climatic Renaissance. Mother Nature has not been the same like before. Again the blame is on us on bringing her to this state. Don’t we have the responsibility of preserving the nature for future? Our own Hindu culture says that Earth is our mother. Aren’t we exploiting her by polluting her? Is it that hard for us to sacrifice crackers and celebrate an eco-friendly Deepavali?

Speaking about our tradition, Deepavali is said to be the festival of lights. Never in any of our sacred scripts is it said the lights should be produced by bursting crackers. Our own culture has taught us to light lamps on Deepavali and enjoy the festival by spending time with family members. The significance of Deepavali has been discussed earlier. To achieve all those, bursting crackers do not donate a thing. Maybe in the ancient times, on the occasion of Deepavali, royal cannons were used to get fired to show the significance of victory of light over darkness. But times have changed. I this era, where we pollute the atmosphere every day over entire year, is it just to use crackers and contribute to the pollution on our Holy day? Doesn’t that go oppose the actual principles of Deepavali? It is said that total amount of pollution caused by our normal life over the entire year is caused by using crackers on Deepavali on just 4-5 days. According to WHO Air quality guidelines, the severity of air pollution is so much that life expectancy among Indians on an average decreases by 3.4 years while among the residents of Delhi it reduces by almost 6.3 years.

All other problems might be avoided by taking required precautionary measures. But what about the pollution of atmosphere? What can be done about that? Is it possible to develop eco-friendly crackers? If there’s anyone doing that, you’re welcome to introduce it to the entire world ASAP. We too would like to fire crackers more than anyone. But until then, how do we control the pollution. According to ‘Ambient Air Pollution Database’ by WHO, on May 2016 India had 13 numbers in world’s top 20 polluted cities with Delhi being at the top followed by Patna, Gwalior, Raipur etc. Of 1215 most polluted cities recorded, 133 were Indian with 31 in top 100 most polluted cities. How long till all our cities get into that list? It may not seem a big issue right now. Or even for 20-30 more years. But after that? One or the other day it’s going to come for us. It is said that if at all third world war happens, it’d be for water. And we all know how polluting our nature affects our water sources.

It may not be easy for us to stop the usage of crackers all of a sudden. But the time has come for us to change. Even though it was our tradition-which clearly is not in case of bursting crackers- for thousands of years, we have to adapt to the present conditions. Even if we can’t reduce it to nil now, we have to work towards eradicating it by reducing the usage year by year. We should sacrifice the usage of humongous crackers and limit ourselves to the crackers which leaves behind very low amount of poisonous gases and which has minimal sound. And after a few years even that has to be stopped. “If not now, then when? If not us, then who?” Someday someone would have to take the initiative about this issue. Why can’t be that us and why can’t that right time be now? “For the change, be the change”

And as a conclusion, before terming us as Anti-Hindu, just think about how serious this issue is going to be in few years. You can talk all you want for now, but it isn’t going to stay the same for long. And our fight is not against the usage of crackers on Deepavali, but it is on the total ban of crackers all over the country over entire year. Usage of crackers should not be allowed anywhere, anytime. Whether it maybe New Year Party, private functions, parties or public functions or any other festivals. Usage of crackers should be banned on all religions and festivals. Let us start the beginning of a new cracker-less era in this special occasion of Deepavali. Let us, Indians be the role models for the entire world on the restrictions on using Crackers.

- Vishwamithra