Delhi is once again caught in the whirlpool of life-threatening air pollution caused by the massive bursting of firecrackers, as people engaged in the frenzy of Diwali celebrations. Young and old alike are choked by toxic gases in the air, gasping for a breath of fresh air. This morbid situation is likely to continue, and the deteriorating air quality will compound the public’s woes. In this context, it is crucial to revisit Gandhi’s writings on Diwali and his prescient appeals for people to give up the needless bursting of firecrackers.

Ninety-seven years ago, in 1928, Gandhi sensitively recognised how futile it was to set off firecrackers during Diwali and appealed to people to refrain from the practice.

More importantly, he urged elders to set an example by staying away from fireworks, so that children could follow their lead. What Gandhi said then is highly relevant today, as Delhi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, led by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, petitioned the Supreme Court to lift the ban on so-called green firecrackers. The apex court allowed this request, disregarding the already deteriorating air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR), even before crackers were allowed. And the obvious result is as predicted: a massive air pollution crisis during Diwali, as happens every year.

Backdrop to Gandhi's comments

The context in which Gandhi flagged the futility of wasting money and resources on firecrackers is remarkably similar to what we are experiencing today. A correspondent had requested that a warning be issued to the public to refrain from fireworks during Diwali, and that they should instead engage themselves and their children in educational and entertaining pastimes. In response, Gandhi wrote an article, “True Holiday-Making”, agreeing with the correspondent's view that people should be dissuaded from squandering money on fireworks, bad "bazaar" sweets and unhygienic illuminations.

Also read: India’s Pollution Refugees Fleeing Delhi’s Toxic Air

He suggested that people should instead occupy themselves with cleaning not just their homes but their hearts, too, and provide children with innocent, instructive amusements during the holidays. He placed the primary responsibility for achieving this on adults, writing:

Fireworks, I know, are the delight of children, but they are so because we, the elders, have habituated them to fireworks. I have not known the untutored African children wanting or appreciating fireworks; they, instead, joyously dance. What can be better or healthier for children than sports and picnics, to which they will take not bazaar-made sweets of doubtful value, but fresh and dried fruit? Children, both rich and poor, may also be trained to do house-cleaning and whitewashing.... It will be something if they are coaxed to recognise the dignity of labour, if only during holidays to begin with. But the point I wish to emphasise is that at least a part, if not the whole, of the money saved by doing away with fireworks, etc., should be given to the cause of khadi, or, if that is anathema, then to any other cause that serves the poorest.

These observations are strikingly relevant today, given the extravagant fireworks, unhealthy sweets and harmful illuminations associated with Diwali celebrations.

Democracy and right to clean air

Has anything been gained by using fireworks during Diwali in Delhi in 2025? The massive use of so-called green crackers, with the approval of the Supreme Court, has led to toxic city/NCR air anyway. According to the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute, residents of Delhi lose up to 8.2 years of life due to prolonged exposure to such severely polluted air. This represents an abject failure of governance, as the elected Delhi government has abdicated its responsibility to protect the public. A fundamental component of governance and democracy is to safeguard people’s inalienable right to life, now imperiled by rising air pollution and worsening air quality.

On 22 March 1931, in his article “Of Princes and Paupers”, Gandhi wrote that in a just administration – which he described as swaraj, dharmaraj, Ramarajya, or the people’s raj – everyone from the ruler to the poorest person “would enjoy pure air and water.”

Today, this vision of democracy is undermined by the Delhi government’s decision to obtain the Supreme Court’s approval for green crackers, resulting in some of the worst levels of air pollution and compromising people’s right to clean air. As reports say, the airborne toxicity at 6 AM the day after Diwali in Delhi was off the charts, as recorded in 36 of 38 Air Quality Index monitoring stations.

Eschewing hatred

Gandhi’s sensitivity extended beyond firecrackers and their impact on people and the country. On July 2, 1936, in response to a request from the editor of Indian Opinion, he expressed anguish:

How can one celebrate Diwali when one's ears are filled with the sighs of the millions of the living dead in this country? Celebrate Diwali by all means, but don't forget the skeletons in India. Set apart a share for them first.

This reflects Gandhi’s social empathy, which shaped his approach to festivals, including Diwali.

Also read: The Source of Hatred in India Is Not a Mystery

On October 4, 1938, in a letter to Sushila Gandhi, he asked again:

…how can we celebrate Diwali? Wherever we look, we see hatred and bitterness. If, therefore, anybody wants to celebrate Diwali, he should try to lessen the hatred and bitterness and, having purified himself, plunge into the swaraj yajna.

In 2025, Diwali celebrations are marked by the spread of hatred, acrimony and targeted violence against minorities, especially Muslims and Dalits, by Hindutva forces. This context makes Gandhi’s questions from the 1930s deeply resonant and morally urgent.

In 1928, he urged people to avoid firecrackers and devote themselves to cleaning their homes and hearts. Today, the havoc caused by mindless use of crackers – whether "green" or not – actively encouraged by Delhi’s BJP government, demands a cleansing not just of the air, but of hearts, to purge bitterness and hatred. Only then can communal harmony and unity in India, battered by the Hindutva ecosystem, be restored. This is the deeper significance of Gandhi’s reflections on Diwali for our time.

S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K R Narayanan.

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