Pledge to protect environment, use green firecrackers in moderation on Diwali: Delhi Speaker

New Delhi: Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta on Saturday urged the people of Delhi to celebrate Diwali while also shouldering their responsibility towards environmental protection.

Extending greetings and best wishes to all residents of Delhi, Gupta said, "Diwali is the festival of light, joy, harmony and positivity. It inspires people to move from darkness towards light and strengthens the values of love, brotherhood and mutual harmony in society."

The Speaker urged the people of Delhi to celebrate Diwali while also shouldering their responsibility towards environmental protection.

Keeping in view the challenge of air pollution in the national capital, Gupta appealed to citizens to use only green firecrackers in moderation and make a conscious effort to minimise air and noise pollution.

The Speaker emphasised that building a clean and healthy Delhi is not merely the responsibility of the government but a collective responsibility of every citizen.

Even a small individual effort towards environmental protection can bring about a significant positive change, he said.

Gupta added, "Let us celebrate this Diwali by lighting lamps of happiness, protecting our environment and working together to build a clean, healthy and pollution-free Delhi."

Earlier, releasing a new edition of "Meri Aapbeeti: Kalapani Ki Karavas Kahani", the autobiography of revolutionary and Ghadar Party leader Bhai Parmanand (1876–1947), Gupta said, "Bhai Parmanand's autobiography is not merely an account of the suffering endured in the Cellular Jail, but a powerful reminder of the patriotism, sacrifice and indomitable courage that shaped India's freedom struggle."

The release, marking his 150th birth anniversary, comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the book in the 139th episode of 'Mann Ki Baat' on October 25, urging young people to read it to understand the sacrifices of India's freedom fighters.

Addressing historians, Arya Samaj representatives and other distinguished guests present on the occasion, Gupta emphasised that bringing such historical accounts to younger generations was essential to preserving the country's collective memory of the freedom struggle.

Recalling Bhai Parmanand's extraordinary life, Speaker Gupta highlighted his contributions as a founding member of the Ghadar Party, an influential Arya Samaj leader and a prominent voice against British colonial rule.

Born in 1876 in Jhelum district, now in Pakistan, Parmanand was sentenced to death in the first Lahore Conspiracy Case of 1915, a sentence subsequently commuted to life imprisonment.

He was transported to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands, where he endured nearly five years of incarceration and undertook a prolonged hunger strike against the inhuman treatment of political prisoners.

Mahatma Gandhi, writing in Young India on November 19, 1919, condemned his treatment and demanded his release.

Following his release on April 20, 1920, Parmanand taught history at National College, Lahore, where revolutionaries Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev were among his students.

Speaker Gupta said that the experiences of revolutionaries such as Parmanand offered an important perspective on the suffering and personal sacrifices behind India's independence.

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