New Delhi: Nearly 24 hours after the Bombay high court directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to restore the video message of actor Dia Mirza’s appeal for a noise-free and pollution-free Diwali, the BMC has failed to do so, The Hindu reported.BMC sources told the newspaper that they would examine the court order before deciding its next steps but did not specify when the video would be restored. Meanwhile, opposition parties and civil rights organisations criticised the government for the lapse. Speaking to the daily, Shiv Sena UBT leader Aditya Thackeray said, “the BJP regime is now blatantly disrespecting the Honourable Court. Firstly, it criticised Dia’s video because of her surname. The video was made for an appeal of the High Court order itself. Then the BJP calls her anti-national. For what? Raising environmental issues? Making a video appeal for a court order? The regime can’t handle the administration – be it the city or the country.”How fighting pollution became ‘Anti-Hindu’An appeal to avoid bursting firecrackers should have been seen as a straightforward public-health message. Instead, Mirza’s participation in a campaign against air and noise pollution became a political controversy. The controversy began after Mirza’s video, recorded for the BMC’s eco-friendly Diwali campaign, drew objections from Mumbai BJP chief Ameet Satam. In a social media post on X, Satam said “ we don’t need lessons on how to celebrate Diwali from Dia Mirza. Our traditions are deeply rooted in our culture”. As per a report by NDTV, Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde subsequently accused the actor of taking an “anti-Hindu and anti-government” stand. NDTV reported that Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane also criticised the BMC for featuring Mirza, questioning why she advocated an environment-friendly Diwali but did not make similar appeals during Eid, Muharram or Bakri Eid. Rane alleged that people like Mirza were against the Sanatan Hindu religion and said he would take up the issue with the chief minister.The civic body had also roped in other public figures, including actors Madhuri Dixit and Nishigandha Wad and cricketer Ajinkya Rahane. Their campaign videos continued to remain on the BMC’s social media accounts even after Mirza’s clip was removed.‘Are we not a secular country?’The Bombay high court took strong exception to the move on November 3, expressing “deep pain and displeasure” over the political reaction and asking the civic body to restore the clip.“What it seems to do is to actually encourage people to burst firecrackers… by giving some different angle. It’s not as if barring firecrackers is taking away… your right to celebrate a particular festival. She (Mirza) had rendered a very good message only in terms of environment and noise pollution… Some person mooted the idea (objecting to the video) and the other took up the matter, which is not good. This is not expected of persons sitting in such high offices,” the bench said, according to a report by The Indian Express.According to the report, the bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale said, the “issue of environment should not be hijacked by any other colour… Everyone in the country is breathing the same air… Are we not a secular country? This is most unfortunate.” The controversy is striking because Mirza’s video was not an attack on Diwali or Hindu traditions. It was part of the BMC’s campaign to raise awareness about air and noise pollution. Citing the high court’s directions, the actor had appealed to people not to burst firecrackers on public roads.The high court, which was hearing a suo motu proceeding on noise and environmental pollution, questioned why an environmental campaign had been given a communal colour. The bench said the civic body was right to enlist celebrities to spread awareness and that no one should be targeted for voluntarily supporting a public cause.The judges also pointed out that the court’s directions on pollution were not restricted to Diwali.“Calling it ‘unfortunate’ that the issue had been given a ‘different colour’, the bench said it would be ‘ideal’ if the campaign content is put up again to ‘restore confidence of people in the Constitution’, noting that the city of Mumbai survives on the feeling of ‘togetherness’ and ‘the balance ought not to be disturbed by any loose comments’,” The Indian Express reported.India’s air pollution crisis is far from a festival-only problemThe controversy comes amid a mounting public-health burden from air pollution in India. A study published in The Lancet Planetary Health, an independent medical journal, estimated that exposure to PM2.5 was responsible for 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019, equivalent to 5% of all deaths, when assessed against Indian air quality standards.The high court has also reiterated that its restrictions on bursting firecrackers on public roads apply throughout the year, rather than being directed at any particular religious celebration. Previous reports by The Wire have highlighted the devastating impact of air pollution across India.Fadnavis calls controversy a ‘very small issue’Despite the court’s criticism, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis sought to play down the controversy. According to this report by India Today, he defended the BMC’s decision to remove the video, saying the civic body had the right to decide what content it retained on its social media accounts.“This is a very small issue. I believe the high court may have expressed its opinion, but the matter has not even gone to the High Court,” Fadnavis said, disputing the suggestion that the civic body had been reprimanded.He added that the decision to delete the clip was the BMC’s prerogative and said Mirza was a good actor but “not a very big leader of India”. “I feel this is not an issue of my level,” he said.The BMC, meanwhile, had not restored the video as of November 5. The civic body told The Hindu its legal department would examine the court’s order before municipal commissioner Ashwini Bhide took a final call on re-uploading it.