Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has defended bursting firecrackers during Diwali, saying any pollution caused by the celebrations would eventually dissipate.
He questioned why similar concern was not shown over corruption that had “polluted the entire system”.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said his government had imposed no restrictions on Diwali celebrations and had instead encouraged people to observe the festival “wholeheartedly”
“You must have noticed the hustle and bustle in the markets on Dhanteras. Many people claimed that Diwali caused pollution. “It was wonderful to see people enjoying themselves with plenty of fireworks. I was in Ayodhya. The UP chief minister’s comments came amid the annual debate over the impact of firecrackers on air quality during Diwali. “Even if there is some pollution, it will clear up; that is not the real issue.
Well, even if it did, it will eventually dissipate,” Yogi Adityanath said at a government programme where he distributed appointment letters to over 1,000 newly recruited junior assistants. It seems that whenever people celebrate a festival, others suddenly start talking about pollution,” he said at the event where he also formally released Rs 215 crore to 4,300 beneficiaries under the Mukhyamantri Kisan Durghatna Kalyan Yojana, an insurance and security scheme for farmer families.
The chief minister said his government had imposed no restrictions on the celebrations and had instead encouraged people to observe the festival “wholeheartedly”. He compared the criticism against one day of celebrations with what he called “silence over systemic wrongdoing”. “No one questions those who have polluted the entire system with their corrupt deeds, yet if the public sets off some firecrackers for a single day, people start crying ‘pollution’,” Yogi Adityanath said. He said the UP government had made it clear that there would be no restrictions. “Go ahead and enjoy the fireworks,” he added, and attacked previous governments in UP before the BJP came to power in 2017 in the country’s most populous state.
He alleged that back then under the earlier governments, festivals were frequently preceded by communal disturbances.
