Despite a Supreme Court ruling on October 9 banning the sale of firecrackers in the National Capital Region, Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Bagga on Tuesday distributed firecrackers to children in Hari Nagar area, which falls in the West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.

“The SC has banned the sale of firecrackers. I am only distributing them. Moreover, if pollution is caused by firecrackers, there must be a blanket ban on them. Selectively banning firecrackers is wrong. If they are banned only till November 1, pollution levels will rise after that. Firecrackers are used even during New Year,” Bagga, who also posted pictures and a video of himself distributing crackers on the micro-blogging site Twitter, said.

Quoting an IIT report, he said that pollution due firecrackers amounts only to 0.3 per cent of the total air pollution. “The number is indicative of the entire year,” the Delhi BJP spokesperson said.

Reportedly, Bagga had previously publicised that he would continue doing the same, inspite of the Supreme Court ban till November 1 in order to gauge the level of impact of bursting of firecrackers on air pollution levels.

He also accused PIL petitioners of systematically targetting Hindu festivals and said their intention of filing the petitions must be taken into account. “First they filed petitions against Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu and then against Holi. On September 22, there was a petition filed against dandiya saying it causes noise pollution. This is just a systematic campaign against Hindu festivals,” Bagga said while adding that the last time firecrackers were banned in India was in 1650 under the reign of Aurangzeb. “He banned them only because burning them was a Hindu tradition,” the Delhi BJP leader said.

Despite repeated attempts to contact the Delhi Police on the issue, there was no response.

Meanwhile, reacting on the issue, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said it was sad that a need to challenge a SC ruling had arisen. “But the reason for this have been governments (Delhi and Centre) itself. If they had something after the ruling, the splendour of the festival would not have been marred.

Maken said the governments should have categorised the firecrackers into highly polluting and less polluting categories. “This would help retain the festive spirit and also would have helped traders in their business. Many people who have been left unemployed due to the ruling would also have had a ray of hope.”

The Delhi Congress chief was also of the opinion that firecrackers were still being sold in the black market by greasing officials’ palms. “You will see that despite the ruling, there will be firecrackers in Delhi on Diwali,” Maken said.