Mumbai civic body removes Dia Mirza's Diwali video after BJP objections
An appeal by actor Dia Mirza to avoid firecrackers during Diwali has been taken down from Mumbai's civic social media accounts following criticism from BJP leaders. Videos featuring other celebrities in the same pollution-awareness campaign remain online.
Mariam Al Mansoori
One video removed from a wider campaign
According to NDTV, Mirza recorded the message for a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) campaign addressing air and noise pollution during Diwali. The actor, a longtime environmental advocate, asked residents not to set off firecrackers.
Mumbai BJP president Ameet Satam challenged her appeal in a November 1 post on X: "We don't need lessons on how to celebrate #Diwali from @deespeak. Our traditions are deeply rooted in our culture." The BMC removed the video shortly afterward. Messages featuring actor Madhuri Dixit, cricketer Ajinkya Rahane and Marathi actor Nishigandha Wad were still available.
Gulf News reported that the BMC had issued no official public explanation for the removal. Separately, an official told The Indian Express that the administration had removed posts "following the public outcry against the earlier posts". The official said its position on firecrackers had not changed and that it was following the Bombay High Court's order.
Responding on social media, Mirza said she had received no fee for the campaign and expressed dismay that an act of goodwill had drawn such a response, The Indian Express reported.
Political criticism and opposition objections
Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde told reporters on November 2, 2026, that Mirza was "anti-Hindu" and that the civic body had "blacklisted her", according to PTI. Tawde also alleged that Mirza "has always sided with divisive forces" and had "trolled PM Modi on the NEET exam issue".
BJP minister Nitesh Rane accused Mirza of selectively offering advice about Diwali, saying she "never tweets or offers such advice during Eid, Muharram or Bakri Eid". He described people like her as "against the Sanatan Hindu religion" and said he would raise the issue with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Shiv Sena spokesperson Shaina NC also rejected the idea that Mumbai residents needed instructions on celebrating Diwali. She emphasized the festival's cultural identity while saying that nobody was advocating pollution or firecracker use.
Union Minister Ramdas Athawale invoked the constitutional right of every religion to celebrate its festivals. While acknowledging concern about excessive pollution, he argued that firecrackers were important to Diwali for many Hindus and that the festival could lose some significance without them.
Athawale described Mirza as belonging to the Muslim community, but that description did not capture her full family background. Her father was Christian and her mother is Bengali Hindu. After her parents separated, her mother married a Muslim man, whose surname Mirza adopted.
Opposition politicians challenged the BMC's decision. Former Mumbai mayor and Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Kishori Pednekar asked whether the administration had "become a slave of the BJP or its Mumbai president". MNS corporator Yashwant Killedar accused Satam of "hypocritical Hindutva".
The BJP and Shiv Sena's Mahayuti alliance holds a majority in the BMC, according to The Indian Express.
The court directions behind the appeal
The campaign followed criticism from the Bombay High Court over the BMC's response to air pollution and inadequate regulation of festival firecrackers. The court banned firecracker use on public roads, in parks and in common areas, and suggested that celebrities contribute pollution-awareness messages without charging fees.
An October 15, 2026 order by Justices Girish S Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale extended a September 22 ban covering public streets, lanes and footpaths to every festival and the entire year. The court specified that manufacturing and selling firecrackers had not been banned.
The bench directed the Maharashtra government, BMC and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board to publish notices, conduct awareness campaigns and enlist celebrities. It also ordered them to promote low-emission green crackers and establish a mechanism for complaints.
The Indian Express reported that this was the BMC's first use of celebrities for a Diwali anti-pollution campaign. Its earlier work with actor Akshay Kumar in 2026 concerned cleanliness and solid waste management.
Warning that unchecked festival celebrations were turning urban centers into "toxic gas chambers", the court noted that the Air Quality Index had recently reached 425 in parts of Mumbai even before Diwali. The next hearing is scheduled for November 25, 2026.
