On 12th November, the Hindus celebrated Diwali in India with great fervour. Despite the ban imposed by the Supreme Court and Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government, restrictions imposed by various state governments, guilt-tripping posts by several activists, celebrities, and NGOs accusing Hindus of poor AQI (Air Quality Index), and mainstream media attacking Diwali for destroying environment, Hindus decided to ignore everyone and have one night of celebrations. AQI post Diwali celebrations was significantly better on the morning of 13th November than what it was earlier.
Interestingly, amidst all the drama and hullabaloo over fireworks on Diwali, the farmers of northern states of India, especially AAP-led Punjab, got no blame from every direction. Notably, 987 new stubble-burning instances were reported in Punjab on 12th November despite the Supreme Court’s strict instructions to the Bhagwant Mann-led state government to stop stubble-burning at any cost.
On 11th November, there were 104 instances of stubble burning, and on 10th November, there were six instances of stubble burning in the state. Just a day before, on 9th November, there were 639 instances of stubble burning, on 8th November, there were 2003 instances of stubble burning, and on 7th November, there were 1515 instances of the same in Punjab. The PDF of 8th November is missing from the Punjab Government’s official website to track stubble burning in the state.
Now, what needs to be pointed out here is that on 8th November, 9th November, and 10th November, the Supreme Court was hearing the matter of pollution in Delhi. On these days, the apex court categorically blamed Punjab for the national capital’s poor Air Quality Index (AQI). On 10th November and 11th November, the instances of stubble burning came down drastically in Punjab, and they resumed on the 12th just few hours before Diwali, with 987 instances, which was a nine times jump from the previous day and 160 times jump from 10th November. It is safe to assume that if farmers and the Punjab administration desire, they can completely stop stubble burning, but it is not happening anytime in the near future.
Media trial of Diwali and Hindus
Coming to the media’s role in blaming Diwali and Hindus for the poor AQI, it has become a habitual thing for the media personnel and media houses to find ways to blame Hindus.
One of the finest examples is India Today’s consulting editor and anchor, Rajdeep Sardesai. On 13th November, Sardesai posted on X that the AQI of Anand Vihar was 970. Sardesai used a screenshot of AQI data from AQICN.ORG. The funny thing is that it showed the AQI of the PUSA station in Delhi and not of Anand Vihar. The screenshot was taken at 7 AM as per the time shown in it.
When writing this report, the AQI of PUSA station was 331.
The AQI of Anand Vihar, according to the same website, was 228. Another Anand Vihar station recorded AQI at 153 on AQICN.
Within a few hours, the AQI dropped drastically, as per AQICN. However, Sardesai got what he wanted by cherry-picking the time for recording AQI.
Another media person who blamed Diwali was Ravish Kumar. Quoting a post by one Hridayesh Joshi where he showed the pollution levels at 11:15 PM in Sanjay Nagar Ghaziabad, Ravish Kumar wrote, “People will live without breathing, but they cannot live without bursting fireworks.”
At 11:15 PM on 12th November 2023, people were bursting fireworks to celebrate Diwali. It was the peak time for fireworks. At that time, it was obvious that the AQI would shoot up. Now, coming to the location at the time of writing this report, the AQI was recorded at 285. In the post, Ravish Kumar quoted PM10 at 1,366 and PM 2.5 at 959; Joshi had categorically mentioned those. At 11 AM on 13th November, PM10 was 337 and PM 2.5 was 194. It is clear from the data that AQI improved within hours of fireworks on Diwali.
Neither Rajdeep Sardesai nor Ravish Kumar have any posts on X about stubble burning this year. There are a few posts on Facebook where Ravish Kumar talked about pollution, but he did not mention Punjab or stubble burning in the text. Sardesai talked about stubble burning on his show last year but categorically avoided discussing it on social media this year as he talked about Diwali fireworks.
Not to forget, in November 2022, Rajdeep Sardesai was supporting farmers in stubble burning.
News agency ANI was also in full swing to capture “waste after Diwali” moments.
#WATCH | Delhi: Firecracker waste seen in various places post-Diwali celebrations
— ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2023
(Visuals from Mandir Marg) pic.twitter.com/WSXR20dELr
#WATCH | Karnataka: Firecracker waste seen in various places post-Diwali celebrations
— ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2023
(Visuals from Bengaluru) pic.twitter.com/dop1KsTRPW
#WATCH | Delhi: Firecracker waste seen in various places post-Diwali celebrations
— ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2023
(Visuals from Gole Market, Paharganj, Ram Nagar Market) pic.twitter.com/huqexBEwhu
Times Now and Times of India also joined in and blamed Diwali for the smog.
Despite the government's 'Diya Jalao, Patakhe nahi' initiative and the Supreme Court's restrictions on firecrackers, Delhi found itself cloaked in thick smog after Diwali, mainly due to widespread cracker bursting.@Sabyasachi_13 & @DSKTweeets provide additional insights. pic.twitter.com/Wkfh2VCvfQ
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) November 13, 2023
#DelhiAirPollution #DelhiPollution #DelhiAirQuality
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) November 13, 2023
The aftermath of #Diwali celebrations resulted in severe #pollution throughout Delhi, exacerbating the already deteriorating #AirQuality crisis.
TOI Photos by Anindya chattopadhyay pic.twitter.com/7ii99WdpbL
Meanwhile, farmers have resumed stubble burning in Punjab as Diwali is getting blamed for poor AQI. In the next few days, if it does not rain in North India, especially in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, the AQI of the national capital will get worse due to the sudden spike in stubble-burning instances. However, the way media, activists, courts and state governments have made a habit of blaming Diwali, it is possible that farmers will get clean chit while Hindus will be ridiculed for bursting fireworks on Diwali and accused of poor AQI even days after the festival.
