On Thursday (November 4), aspiring actor Harsh Varddhan Kapoor courted controversy after he resorted to virtue-signalling on the auspicious occasion of Diwali. Harsh is the son of actor Anil Kapoor.
In a tweet, he alleged, “People still bursting firecrackers all over the place…my pets are scared it’s uncomfortable for everyone at home and really bad for the environment in more ways than one.” While taking a high moral ground, the actor claimed, “I’ve never been a prisoner to cultural presets for these reasons…Common sense ”
Social media users question Harsh Kapoor, point out his hypocrisy
His holier-than-thou attitude on Diwali night did not go well with the netizens. Social media users slammed the actor and his family for their hypocrisy. Popular Twitter user (@theskindoctor13) shared a 2016 picture wherein Anil Kapoor could be seen burning firecrackers. In the background of the image, actor Harsh Kapoor and his sister Sonam Kapoor could be seen watching their father.
The Twitter user questioned, “2016 Diwali: Is that you bro on the left of Sonam? Didn’t stop your dad from bursting firecrackers? Or your common sense has prevailed recently only?”
Another Twitter user had shared a picture of Harsh Kapoor in a private jet and pointed out how the actor did not care about carbon emissions in reality. “Anglicised Indian elites love to critique Diwali (1 day of fireworks) but stack up carbon footprints the rest of the year. The carbon footprint of your western lifestyle is 1000s the average person celebrating Diwali. Here is a picture of your father Anil Kapoor in a private jet.”
Another social media user shared pictures of Anil Kapoor celebrating Diwali and emphasised on the hypocrisy in the statement of Harsh Kapoor.
Another popular Twitter user (@desimojito) wrote, “Anil Kapoor’s dog couldn’t breathe… Jackie Shroff had to go and satisfy their entire family.”
BJP leader Rohit Chahal reminded Harsh of the firecrackers at his sister’s wedding. “I am sure these crackers on your sister’s wedding were ecofriendly, imported from States, and all birds and dogs in your home and neighbourhood were supplied with airpods well before the event.”
Another Twitter user questioned the hypocrisy of the star kid using terms like ‘cultural presets’
Actor cites ‘environmental awareness’ in his defense, deletes tweets after outrage
After being caught off guard, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor defended his tweet by claiming that the pictures were 5 years old. “We didn’t do any this year…as were more aware now… Happy Diwali”. At the time of writing the article, the actor had deleted both of his tweets.
Diwali and liberal sermons on environmentalism
Diwali is a once in a year celebration for the Hindu community where people burst firecrackers in the evening to celebrate Lord Ram’s return to Ayodhya. While multiple governments, organisations and courts are launching a systematic attack against the Hindu festival, painting it as the evil cause behind air pollution, the claims are not supported by research and are dishonest, to say the least.
While year-round industrial pollution, stubble burning and vehicle emissions are the major contributors of air pollution and go on unchecked, Bollywood celebs and some ‘secular’ activists try every year to paint Diwali celebrations as the prime contributor towards air pollution. Their selective concern that ignores everything else, and finds only one Hindu festival to defame is what irritates most people.
It is notable here that in 2016, a research study by IIT Kanpur had found that firecrackers are not the top contributors to Delhi’s poor air quality. The study had pegged construction dust as the top cause, followed by vehicular pollution and bad infrastructure, the next worst cause was stubble burning. However, during a hearing in a plea against the NGT order of ban against firecrackers this July, the Supreme Court had rejected the study, saying they do not need IIT Kanpur to decide that firecrackers cause pollution.
The pollution data of Delhi analysed by IIT Kanpur had suggested that suggest that the pollution caused by Diwali is extremely short-lived (less than 24 hrs), and is no worse than the usual spikes of pollutants that are present in Delhi’s air almost all the year.
