Ayodhya is beautifully adorned in preparation for Diwali, one of the most significant festivals celebrated by millions of Hindus around the world. This festival commemorates Lord Ram’s return home after 14 years of exile. This year is particularly special for Ayodhya, as it marks the first Diwali celebrations held in the temple town with the newly consecrated Ram Mandir.
Into its eighth year, the UP government plans to deck up Ayodhya with diyas to celebrate ‘Deepotsav’, decorating the city with 25-28 lakh lamps and setting a world record. The Yogi Adityanath government said Diwali celebrations would be undertaken with environmental concerns in mind and eco-friendly lamps would be used to light up the grand Ram Temple.
However, even as the country is drowned in the festive mood and preparations are underway to celebrate Diwali in Ayodhya’s Ram Temple, the festivities face threats not from Ravana but a section of ‘conscientious environmentalists’ and ‘secular critics’, armed with their keyboards and tweets, rearing to wage war on the Hindu festival.
In the past week, the WhatsApp group of these ‘activists’ saw heightened activity, with its members routinely throwing lavish parties in their respective ‘2BHKs’ and discussing issues such as ‘growing polarisation’ in society hours after routinely spreading fake news demonising Hindus. They apparently decided to meet in person in an upscale seafood restaurant in Khan Market to discuss how they could attack Diwali celebrations by raising concerns about pollution and the safety of animals among other reasons to target the Yogi Adityanath government in UP and Modi government at the Centre.
“Modi’s new India splurges on Diwali celebrations while it struggles to feed its population,” tweeted a ‘journalist’ popularly known as ‘parking lot’ on X, a day after Diwali, highlighting the recently released Global Hunger Index that ranked India at 105 out of 127 nations, even though it placed India lower than several nations to which it had gifted free ration as a goodwill gesture.
His wife, a YouTuber these days too, partook in the collective propaganda effort, suggesting Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya this year reflect badly on a nation where poor children ferret out oil from earthen lamps and pour it in utensils for their family’s use.
Another member of this esteemed group, who was recently in the United States for a ‘scholarship’ programme, decided to include a Muslim angle to report on Ayodhya celebrations. “The ostentatious Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya is a jarring reminder of how Muslims in India continue to be sidelined and marginalised,” said the ‘scribe’ working for a left-leaning propaganda portal and who recently expressed the desire for the return of a man who coined ‘Two Nation Theory’ to direct Indian Muslims in the ‘right’ direction. The premise of her argument was a juxtaposed picture of a Muslim family of a husband, 4 wives, and 8 children living in darkness because of their inability to pay electricity bills with a brightly lit-up Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Yet another leftist, a psephologist by profession but who claims to have expertise in every field under the sun, tweeted, “Imagine the audacity, celebrating Diwali with actual lamps! Do they not know the carbon footprint of all those diyas?” The tweet, naturally, featured an image of Ayodhya—not radiating with traditional warmth, but rather portrayed as a smog-filled dystopia. A witty X user promptly responded underneath his tweet, “Aaj Duggal Saab environmentalist hai.”
Articles trashing the Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya began to emerge in publications, such as mushrooms sprouting after rains. ‘Yogi Adityanath govt plunges Ayodhya in environmental catastrophe’ was the title of an article that argued about the violation of animal rights. “Doesn’t lighting so many lamps infringe on the rights of nocturnal animals? Think of the owls, they must be so triggered by all this light!” it contended.
Meanwhile, a video by a popular YouTuber based out of Germany, discussed how the Diwali celebration was a clear sign of cultural appropriation. “I mean, Diwali isn’t just about lights, it’s about inclusivity. Where’s the inclusivity for the light-sensitive community? Was there a sincere attempt undertaken to seek permission from the environment before lighting up those diyas? And don’t even get me started on the trauma felt by fishes and crocodiles living in the Saryu River,” the YouTuber pondered, subtly hinting at his followers to file a petition against this gross misconduct.
“What? We are lighting up Ayodhya with diyas, but what about those who love darkness? Don’t they have the right to enjoy darkness? Isn’t this a gross undermining of the Indian constitution?” lamented a Radio Jockey claiming to voice concerns for the darkness lovers.
On the Yogi Adityanath administration’s use of eco-friendly lamps instead of traditional diyas, an ‘environmental activist’ tweeted, “But what about the cultural authenticity?”, arguing that the government has failed everyone, Hindus, environmentalists, minorities, animals, and others, without offering any explanation regarding it.
A self-described ‘journalist’ accused of plagiarism for her columns in an American daily and who faces enquiry for committing fraud in the name of donations in India shared a news report of a thief caught red-handed for stealing valuables from a house in Ayodhya. The ‘journalist’ claimed the arrest of the thief, identified as Abdul, on the day of Diwali was yet another blow to the secular credentials of the nation under the Modi government. “Now needy Muslims in India can not even steal from the privileged ones. This is what India has been turned into in the last 10 years of rule. This is the fascism we are living under,” she tweeted.
