The Bombay High Court today criticised the politically motivated comments against actor Dia Mirza for her video urging citizens not to burst firecrackers on streets before Diwali. The court observed that giving a political and religious angle to Mirza’s video was disturbing.
“A festival is for everyone to celebrate. No individual can be isolated from celebrating any festival in this country. How can you object to someone’s participation just because the person is from some other religion? Aren’t we a secular country?” the bench of Justice Girish Kularni and Justice De. Neela Gokhale said.
Mirza had created a video at the behest of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to raise awareness about the Bombay High Court’s directions against bursting firecrackers on streets. However, the video was taken down from BMC’s social media following political criticism that described the video as “anti-Hindu.”
Criticising the political remarks as “unfortunate,” the High Court praised Mirza for her message. It observed that its earlier order had allowed everyone to participate equally in creating awareness.
“She acted as per the directions of the court,” the bench observed while asking politicians not to give the issue another angle. “When we are speaking about health and pollution and environment, there is no room for factionalism,” the bench said.
The court also directed the Mumbai civic body to reupload Mirza’s video. “We would desire that in the event any goodwill message of any celebrity was taken off from the corporation’s social media, it would be ideal if the same is put back in the spirit of what the Supreme Court observed that the festival is for everybody to celebrate. No person can be isolated from any festival being celebrated in this country,” the court directed.
Highlighting the issue as an environmental issue, the court said, “everyone is breathing the same air. It’s not that barring firecrackers is taking away your right to celebrate the festival.”
To recall, the controversy erupted after Mumbai BJP President and MLA Ameet Satam objected to BMC posting actor Dia Mirza’s video in a Diwali awareness campaign against firecrackers. This was followed by comments from other politicians, including Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde, Maharashtra Minister Ritesh Rane and Shiv Sena Shaina NC, among others. The politicians labelled Dia Mirza’s video as “anti-Hindu” and “anti-Hindutva”, claiming that they don’t need her to teach how to celebrate Diwali. Following these objections, the BMC pulled down Mirza’s video from its social media accounts on November 1.
