Bombay HC orders BMC to restore Dia Mirza's anti-firecracker video, says she acted on court's directions

How the row began

The video was part of a BMC campaign for a pollution-free Diwali, which was started after a Bombay High Court order on Mumbai's air pollution, passed in a public interest case the court took up on its own. The court had earlier asked the corporation to involve celebrities in public awareness campaigns on pollution and compliance with the limits on firecrackers in public spaces. Mirza recorded a clip urging people not to burst firecrackers on public roads during Diwali. Her video was one of several: the campaign also featured actor Madhuri Dixit, cricketer Ajinkya Rahane and Marathi actor Nishigandha Wad, and their videos stayed online.

Mirza's video came down within hours of an objection from Mumbai BJP president Ameet Satam, who publicly asked why the corporation had picked her to talk about how to celebrate Diwali and said that citizens did not need lessons from her. The BMC gave no public explanation for the removal. Other BJP leaders, among them Sanjay Nirupam and MLA Sanjay Upadhyay, also criticised the video, and ministers were reported to have criticised what they called selective targeting of Hindu festivals.

Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde said that Mirza's inclusion had not been approved by the elected leadership, called her anti-Hindu, said her opposition had consistently been aimed at Hindutva and those associated with it, and said that future civic campaigns would need the mayor's approval. Critics noted that only Mirza's video had been taken down while those of other public figures making similar appeals stayed up.

The pollution case behind the video

The same bench had passed an order on 22 September, during the Ganeshotsav festival, banning the bursting of firecrackers on public streets, lanes and footpaths, and in mid-October it extended that order to apply throughout the year and to all festivals, including Diwali. The court clarified that it had not prohibited the manufacture or sale of firecrackers. It directed the BMC and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board to issue notices and to run a public awareness drive that involves celebrities and promotes green firecrackers, which are designed to cause less pollution, and asked for a complaint-redressal mechanism with the police. In an earlier hearing the court said celebrities should maintain a social commitment while celebrating Diwali, and one report says it warned the state government not to spend public money on artists for the purpose.

Mirza defended the video, saying that it was recorded on the Bombay High Court's directions to promote awareness of air pollution. 'Air pollution is a matter of public health,' she said. The reports reviewed carry no further statement from her after the court's order.

The row comes days before Diwali, when firecracker use is a perennial source of conflict between court orders, civic enforcement and festival traditions, and the order was passed in a case that exists because of those conflicts. The air in Delhi turned 'very poor' on 2 November, with an index reading of 312, on the first morning after the capital's winter curbs began, and one report mentions the Supreme Court allowing green crackers in the Delhi region on 7 and 8 November, though that is not connected to this dispute. In Mumbai the court-driven campaign is meant to persuade residents to follow the limits, and the order puts the corporation back in the position of delivering the message the court asked for.

The High Court's direction deals with the video but leaves open how the corporation's campaigns will be approved in future, although the court's own order made celebrity awareness campaigns part of what the corporation has to do, since the mayor has said that celebrities' participation will need her approval, and the court has not addressed that claim in the reports reviewed. It also leaves open whether the BMC will restore the video in full or with changes, and whether any action will follow against those who made the remarks the court criticised. For Mirza, the order backs her stand that she was doing what the court had asked. For the civic body, which had to choose between a court order and a political objection, it is a reminder that a campaign it started because of a court order cannot be withdrawn because of a political one.