- BMC delays re-uploading video, awaiting legal department’s review.
Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is yet to re-upload actor Dia Mirza’s video appealing to citizens to avoid firecrackers during Diwali, a day after the Bombay High Court directed the civic body to restore the clip removed amid a political controversy.
The HC on Tuesday expressed its “deep pain and displeasure” with the controversy over Mirza’s video for the BMC’s eco-friendly and firecracker-free Diwali campaign and asked the civic body to re-upload her clip, deleted on Monday pursuant to the objections raised by some BJP leaders and Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde.
Since Tuesday evening, BMC officials have been telling media persons that they were awaiting receipt of the court order before taking a decision on re-uploading the video.
However, the civic body, ruled by the BJP-Shiv Sena combine, has not yet issued any official statement on the matter.
A senior civic official, who did not wish to be named, told PTI that the BMC received the court order on late Wednesday evening and their legal department will study it. Based on their opinion, Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide will take the final decision on re-uploading the video.
Meanwhile, Congress group leader in the BMC Ashraf Azmi, speaking at a standing committee meeting, raised the issue of removing Mirza’s video from the civic body’s social media handles. The committee meeting witnessed a verbal spat between ruling and Opposition members over the issue.
The civic body had taken down the video from its social media platforms on Sunday night following objections raised by Mumbai BJP chief Ameet Satam.
The next day, Mayor Ritu Tawde, a BJP corporator, defended the BMC move and labelled Mirza as “anti-Hindu”.
The video was part of the BMC’s eco-friendly Diwali campaign launched following the High Court’s directions on preventing firecracker-related air and noise pollution.
Taking suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the controversy on Tuesday, a bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale expressed “deep pain and displeasure” over the removal of the actor’s clip and directed the civic body to re-upload it.
The bench said it was anguished by the “petty mindset” of certain persons, particularly those who are representatives of the common citizen, and termed it “most unfortunate” that a video intended to spread awareness about the environment and air and noise pollution was given a different colour.
Mirza, who is also an environmentalist, was appointed the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Goodwill Ambassador for India in 2017. She was also appointed as an Advocate for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in 2019.
The actor-model, who won the Miss Asia Pacific International title in 2000, has been actively involved in campaigns relating to environmental conservation, climate change, wildlife protection and plastic pollution.
The court said the BMC commissioner was absolutely correct in selecting celebrities to spread awareness and that no person could question the civic body’s choice of a particular celebrity for the campaign.
It also sounded a note of caution to those who raised objections, saying there had to be respect for every person in the community irrespective of religion, caste and creed.
“There has to be a secular spirit, and the Constitution expects citizens to foster the same. If the clip was taken off, then it would be ideal that the same should be re-uploaded,” the bench said.
A city like Mumbai survives on togetherness and a strong feeling of belonging to society, and this ought not to be disturbed by any “loose comments”, it observed.
“We have not seen any politician or any person who made remarks yesterday put up videos spreading awareness. We are a secular country. We are really hurt by this. The issue pertains to the environment and every person, irrespective of their religion and caste, is breathing the same air,” the court said.
The court clarified that its directions prohibiting the bursting of firecrackers on public roads applied throughout the year and were not related to any particular festival.
The BMC had appealed to citizens to avoid bursting firecrackers and celebrate an environment-friendly Diwali following the High Court’s directions amid rising air pollution in Mumbai.
As part of the campaign, the civic body had roped in several celebrities, including Mirza.
While her video urging people to avoid air and noise pollution was removed, campaign videos featuring actors Madhuri Dixit and Nishigandha Wad, as well as cricketer Ajinkya Rahane, continued to remain on the BMC’s X and Instagram pages.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
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