‘Gods’ on crackers, not pollution, spark ire in MP
BHOPAL: A section of saffron brigade is opposing the bursting of firecrackers in Madhya Pradesh. But it is not for the sake of protecting environment from pollution caused by them, but for a religious reason — the firecrackers have images of gods and goddesses printed on them.
The activists argue that with the bursting of crackers, these images of gods and goddesses “also get torn into pieces”, which “hurts the sentiments of Hindus”.
“Laxmi bomb, Kanha fuljadi, Ganesh anar or chakri. People burst these crackers on the streets and sweep them the following day. These firecrackers not only demean the names of our gods and goddesses but also, in a way, insult them by bursting them along with crackers,” said Chandra Shekhar Tiwari, state convener of Sanskriti Bachao Manch.
The activist said the printing of images was a conspiracy against the celebration of this festival. A rightwing activist Anup Chaubey said, “The factory owner and workers are from other religion. They have hatched a conspiracy against us so that they can make fun of us by saying that we are bursting the photos of goddesses Laxmi to whom we worshipped on Diwali. We are holding campaign among common people on this issue and requesting them not to buy such crackers.”
The activists say they are holding peaceful protests against this issue.
The activists said if they find any firecrackers with name of Hindu gods, they would take out the image and immersed it in water. Till now, 6,500 people have joined the campaign.
However, the cracker shop owners have already stopped the sale of such type of crackers.
“The firecrackers are being supplied in the state from Ganj-Basoda in MP and Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu. We are not receiving the supply of firecrackers having photos of god and goddesses but we are ensuring it in the whole crackers market so that nobody could raise any question against us,” said Daulatram, general secretary of Bhopal Fire Crackers Association.