NCP (SP) says BJP leaders gave Mumbai firecracker safety appeal a communal colour

Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde appealed to people to be careful while bursting firecrackers after Diwali. The opposition NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) raised questions over this on Monday. The party said there were several fire incidents in the city on Diwali, and asked how genuine the mayor's concern was.

NCP (SP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto asked whether safety had not been a priority for Tawde when she said, "We do not need Dia Mirza to teach us how to celebrate Diwali." Tawde made the remark when actor Dia Mirza had joined the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) anti-firecracker awareness campaign.

Crasto also questioned the silence of Mumbai BJP president Ameet Satam. He alleged that the ruling BJP, Satam and Tawde had turned a safety message into a communal one by targeting Dia Mirza. The BMC, he said, had brought in certain celebrities precisely so that they would urge people to follow the Bombay High Court's guidelines on firecrackers during Diwali.

According to Crasto, the mayor is a BJP corporator, but she should discharge her responsibility as the city's first citizen. Instead of getting entangled in communal politics, she should serve the people of Mumbai, he said.

The controversy began last week, when Satam objected to Dia Mirza's participation in the BMC campaign. The civic body then removed her video from its social media platforms. Tawde had defended the BMC's decision to remove the video. She had said Dia Mirza was not needed to teach Hindus how to celebrate Diwali. The Bombay High Court later asked the BMC to restore the actor's video. The court observed that an environmental issue should not be given any other colour.

Meanwhile, fire incidents in Mumbai rose sharply this Diwali. Officials said on Monday that 137 fires caused by firecrackers were recorded on Sunday, in which two firefighters were injured.

According to BMC figures, this single-day count is higher than the number recorded over the whole of Diwali in earlier years. In 2024, 80 firecracker fires were recorded, and 113 in 2025.