‘Music to ears’, ‘burn the hearts of many’: TV anchors, BJP IT cell and the great Diwali gaslight

Delhi woke up on Tuesday to a familiar sight – a city smothered in its own smoke. The morning after Diwali, the city-wide AQI reportedly averaged 451 at 7 am, higher than the national safe limit.

But even as markets openly flouted the ban on traditional firecrackers, and questions swirled about the so-called “green” ones allowed by the Supreme Court, a section of India’s loudest voices had already decided to turn pollution into a culture war.

While the AQI neared the severe category in many parts of Delhi on Monday night, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya declared on X, “The sound of loud crackers all around is like music to the ears.”

ABP News anchor Rubika Liyaquat added her own spark to the smoke. “We will light lamps… but by bursting firecrackers, we will also burn the hearts of many,” she posted on X on Monday afternoon. Amid questions about Delhi’s worsening AQI, she mocked the concern with a screengrab showing very poor AQI in Noida. “How did the AQI rise even before the fireworks? Blame it all on the festival… Nonsense!”

Not to be left behind, Times Now Navbharat’s Sushant Sinha posted on Diwali eve: “AQI is already close to 300. Tomorrow, when the ecosystem comes thumping its chest, it’s not about taking the load. It’s about bursting firecrackers.”

The irony? A day later, the same channels these anchors represent were airing breathless ground reports from smog-choked streets – correspondents pointing to hazy visuals, “severe” readings, and doctors warning of respiratory distress.

Reporters on Times Now Navbharat presented hazy visuals from the ground to point out how incessant bursting of firecrackers had contributed to a situation where it was difficult to even breathe.

On ABP News, a report from Anand Vihar bus terminal pointed out that the AQI was beyond 400 now and experts had advised precautions for the vulnerable. Earlier, a day before Diwali, another report from Greater Noida highlighted that the AQI was around 300 even a day before Diwali and “one can only imagine where the level would be if people burst firecrackers on Diwali”.

While BJP leaders had hailed the Supreme Court’s order allowing “green” firecrackers”, the court’s ban on traditional firecrackers subsequently went for a toss in Delhi’s markets. Newslaundry had reported on poor enforcement of restrictions this year and last.

Meanwhile, there were many questions about the court’s decision itself, with several news channels asking if the capital’s air could afford green firecrackers. 

Delhi’s air had already slipped to “poor” even before Diwali, as The Telegraph noted in an editorial. Against this backdrop, the Supreme Court’s endorsement of “green crackers” looked less like a balance and more like a concession to sentiment over science. “This leniency bodes ill,” the editorial warned, “in a society indifferent to the many forms of pollution caused by firecrackers.”

Meanwhile, Hindutva proponents, including self-proclaimed godmen, joined the smokescreen. Bageshwar Dham’s Dhirendra Shastri went on multiple primetime shows asserting that firecrackers must be burst and asking why pollution debates always surface only during Hindu festivals. On News18 India, he brushed off host Amish Devgan’s concerns; on Republic Bharat, he demanded to know why curbs applied only to Diwali.

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