Papiya retracts from her statement ‘crackers cure illness’ and blames the media for misinterpretation

PABITRA BANERJEE: BJP’s Bengal MLA Papiya Adhikari began with a smile, and then, while answering a question, quickly blamed the media for giving a different spin to her now viral “bursting firecrackers can cure several diseases” comment.”Nahi, nahi aisa baat koi kuch nahi hai. Ye media waalon ne kya maine kar rahe hain mujhe pata nahi hai. Ye nahi karna chahiye (No, no, nothing like that at all. I don’t know what the media is up to. They shouldn’t be doing this),” she, continuing to smile, said in Hindi.The actor-turned-MLA then pinned it on the ancestors. “Purvaj ka ye kahavat tha ki ye sab hota hai. Asal main ye deep ka parv hai. Diya jalane ka parv hai. Samajik jitna buraiyaan hota hai woh mitaya jaata hai. Toh ye hamara jo yagya hota tha, ya deep jalane se bahut kuch mitaya jaata tha. Abhi toh firecrackers ka yug aa gaya toh abhi science itna badh chuka hai ki ye baat abhi theek nahi hai (Our ancestors used to say that all of this – the lighting of lamps – serves a purpose. In essence, this is a festival of lights – a festival of lighting lamps – meant to eradicate social evils. In the past, this ritual – this yagya or the act of lighting lamps – was believed to help eliminate many such ills),” she said.The Tollygunge MLA admitted that such talk is not appropriate for this age where science has progressed so much.The original remarks, made during a Kali Puja pandal inauguration in Kolkata, drew intense backlash and online criticism, coming at a time when urban centers across eastern India were grappling with sharp seasonal spikes in atmospheric pollution following festive firecracker usage. Opponents slammed the legislator for promoting unscientific claims, while Adhikari maintained that her intent was centered on the traditional significance of the festival rather than defying scientific consensus.