The
unfortunate event in Kollam has resulted in many calling for complete ban on
fireworks in the state. Right from the Manufacturing of Fireworks, to their
rather unregulated storage and use, fireworks has resulted in the death and
injury to many. I remember an incident in Kannur a few weeks ago, when a 12
year child was severely injured and a whole house collapsed due to a stash of
fireworks.[1]
One can stretch his memory to such incidents to as far back as to the incident
in Sabrimala in 1952. An incident of this magnitude, of course, has not
happened.
Kerala has been prone to such disasters, with some 40- odd incidents happening in the last 50 years.
The
fireworks that were stored in this temple was apparently for a fireworks
competition. (Read more on this here.)
 |
| Credits: AFP |
Shashi
Tharoor listed out his three concerns after this incident-Firstly, regarding “religion
as a public spectacle”, secondly, “laxity of procedure and respect for law” and
lastly, “politicization of the tragedy”.
I agree with him on the second point- the utter disregard for the law
has been shocking. I do not want to comment more without the full details.[2]
In his first point, Mr.Tharoor
wrote about Hinduism was about one’s personal relationship with God. I agree
with Mr. Tharoor- I believe my religion to be my personal relationship with
God. But I do not seek to enforce this view on others. Mr. Tharoor goes onto
talk about how if “It is really necessary” for us to celebrate festivals with dazzling
displays. He moves onto remark that Hinduism is a “sorry pass” if “If temples feel they have to dazzle the faithful by fireworks to retain their
belief in God”. I Believe that
Temple festivals are not only festivals to celebrate God’s power and Victory,
or whatever reason there is, in name, to celebrate a Festival, but these are
also events where the community gets together, and celebrates. A temple
festival is not purely one intended for religious purposes. He does not stop
there. He states: “Sati, after all, was also
sanctified by tradition once: would our democratic politics have allowed for
its abolition?” I do not know if it would have been, but surely,
Fireworks in temples are not a social ill and disgrace like sati.[3]
Thirdly, about
politicization: I believe the tragedy
went rather un-politicized, at least in a national scale. The effect of
disaster tourism is rather undocumented, and you could rely ion anecdotal evidence
to how a visiting politician diverted attention away from the injured, but is
it wrong of the Prime Minister to visit the site? I do not believe so. The
relations between the Union Government and State Government have been
remarkably cordial. Those adopting an adversarial stance to this can argue
this was a PR stunt. Anyway, not much politics have figured in this issue. Mr.
Tharoor also states that RSS workers have blamed the Congress Government for
the disasters. A Google search yielded nothing but a blog post on how the RSS
& Congress have been complicit in this issue.[4] I am making no mention of
the attempt to politicize the issue by the CPI(M), but only from the viewpoint
of national politics.
Fireworks have been part and parcel of temple
festivals. I believe with proper regulation and supervision, Fireworks in
temple festivals are
acceptable.
Vishu
has always been celebrated with crackers and beautiful displays. This is one
thing as a child you look forward to. (Of Course, money is the coolest thing.)
This is has been tradition for decades, if not centuries. The Thrissur Pooram,
which was devised by the legendary Shakthan Thampuran, has been celebrated
since 1790 with a wondrous display of fireworks.
~
The
Government’s commitment to its people is according to me, to protect the
society at large- is banning fireworks
the most effective way to ensure the
protection of society? I am in no ways denying that fireworks are dangerous.
But was it not the executive’s failure to regulate fireworks at blame here?
One can only hope that the Laws with regards to explosives are better enforced in Kerala. Till then, we should ourselves, handle them with care and caution.
[3] C’mon
man, really? Sati?
[4] http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2016/04/12/congress-rss-tough-love-in-kerala-takes-a-heavy-toll/
First posted here.
Further reading
Some further comments: looking through the statics of disasters caused by explosives, one could feel that there is a "Fireworks" culture in Kerala. Much like the "Gun culture" in America, it has a huge fan following, apparently. But unlike America, the fireworks culture results in deaths by accident only, and they too are limited.
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On Sri.Tharoor's question on whether fireworks are necessary: If we think about it, is it necessary to follow any tradition?
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The last article referenced is regarding how local authorities have been helpless to enforce laws. My sincere hope is that the Government takes cognizance of this broken system.
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On the environmental impact of fireworks: I did not include this originally because none of the mainstream media coverage talked about it. Air pollution by fireworks are generally a non-issue and a temporary pollutant. the issue is so under the bar that there is no single reference to pollution caused by it on Wikipedia, the Internets source of all information. (funnily enough, the page has a link to 'Tire Fire') But here are two article's advocating it's ban, but that will be stupid.Article 1; Article 2) We have more reasonable actions to take; for example, why not raise Motor vehicle emission standards right now?
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On the environmental impact of fireworks: I did not include this originally because none of the mainstream media coverage talked about it. Air pollution by fireworks are generally a non-issue and a temporary pollutant. the issue is so under the bar that there is no single reference to pollution caused by it on Wikipedia, the Internets source of all information. (funnily enough, the page has a link to 'Tire Fire') But here are two article's advocating it's ban, but that will be stupid.Article 1; Article 2) We have more reasonable actions to take; for example, why not raise Motor vehicle emission standards right now?
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