Diwali gets a swadeshi push

After Centre warning on sale or use of foreign firecrackers, BJP plans to popularise use of diyas by Diwali

After the Narendra Modi government clamped on sale of foreign firecrackers, largely imported from China, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plans to encourage people to use more diyas, or earthen lamps, instead of cheap China-manufactured lights.

On Monday, the department of industrial policy and promotion, under the commerce ministry, had issued a statement that possession and sale of imported firecrackers were illegal. Though no country was named in the statement, the step was aimed at stopping the entry of Chinese crackers. These have flooded the domestic markets in recent years, at the expense of local manufacturers. The move comes barely a fortnight after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India.

In Tamil Nadu, home to India's Rs 3,000-crore domestic firework industry, the ban on Chinese crackers is seen by some as an attempt by the BJP-led government at the Centre to make inroads in the southern state at a time when the stock of the ruling AIADMK is down, due to J Jayalalithaa's conviction for illegally amassing wealth.Sivakasi and the villages in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu produce around 80 per cent of the country's fireworks.

"The new government seems to have understood the industry's problem and reacted positively," said K Mariappan, vice-president, Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers' Association. He said illegal Chinese firecrackers worth Rs 600 crore have already been dumped into the country this year.

"It is not a question of business loss alone. These Chinese crackers are also a threat to life, as they use potassium chlorate, a highly unstable and hazardous compound which can ignite or explode spontaneously," said Siva Balan of Pooja Fireworks.

The BJP also plans to revive "deep daan", a practice of offering earthen lamps in lakes and rivers between Dhanteras and Diwali. Dhanteras is celebrated two days before Diwali.

"Deep daan is considered auspicious and is friendly to the environment," said BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma. He said it would help thousands of potters in villages and towns to earn a livelihood.

Sharma says he doesn't view deep daan as an attempt to target products manufactured by China or any other country. "What we want to encourage is the PM's 'Make in India' concept, where the product should be manufactured in India for our buyers," he said.

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has welcomed the Narendra Modi government's move to restrict the sale of Chinese firecrackers. Ashwani Mahajan, its national co-convenor, said the government should also look at the import of cheap toys from China, studies of which have found use plastic that is toxic and harmful to the health of children.

"Sivakasi firecracker industry was dying. The manufacturers had also started importing cheaper Chinese raw material. The Chinese-made firecrackers are of poor quality compared to those made in Sivakasi. But the industry couldn't withstand the onslaught of cheaper Chinese firecrackers and raw material," said Mahajan.

He claimed the SJM's Chennai branch, led by S Gurumurthy, a known economist and proponent of their view, played an important role in highlighting the problems of the industry at Sivakasi to Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

"At the end of the day, Indian interests are paramount and anything that involves employment and livelihood of thousands of people. We also need to be sensitive about the risks they run if anything is dumped as part of unfair trade practices," said BJP national spokesperson Nalin Kohli.

A few years earlier, the domestic firework industry had made representations to then Union commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma and his deputy, Sudarsana Natchiappan, on the need to issue a public notice warning of punishment under Section 9B(1) in the Explosives Act, to anybody trying to import, store and sell foreign fireworks. But the request was not heeded. Just before the Lok Sabha polls, Modi, during his campaign trail, had come down heavily on the then UPA government for letting the domestic firecracker industry "die".