Hours before Supreme Court banned the sale of firecrackers in Delhi ahead of Diwali, India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh had appealed to his fans to celebrate the festival keeping the environment in mind.
In a video shared on his social media page, Yuvraj recalled the trouble he had last year when he could not get out of his house due to pollution. Yuvraj appealed to his fans to restrain from using firecrackers this year, and instead, celebrate the festival of lights in peace.
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“Sincere request from my side to all of you this year… coming from the heart, don’t burst firecrackers this Diwali. The condition that our country landed in last year… the pollution, the air that we were breathing was devastating,” Yuvraj said.
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“I could not get out of my house because the air was so polluted. It was unhealthy, it was unnatural… for our kids, friends, parents, for the sake of everyone it is very important (that) we all take responsibility this year. It is a celebration of lights, festival of lights, let us all light diyas instead of (fire) crackers, spread love, peace and happiness,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“I could not get out of my house because the air was so polluted. It was unhealthy, it was unnatural… for our kids, friends, parents, for the sake of everyone it is very important (that) we all take responsibility this year. It is a celebration of lights, festival of lights, let us all light diyas instead of (fire) crackers, spread love, peace and happiness,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“Jhappiya dalo (hug each other), have sweets, play cards… but please don’t burst crackers because they will damage us. (To see) young kids roaming around wearing masks, I feel very bad. I am sure you would have felt bad about it too.”
Yuvraj appealed to his fans to be more responsible. “Let us all take responsibility, it is our country at the end of the day and we have to make it better. And if we don’t take responsibility, nobody else is going to do that. So (it is) my sincere request to you that let us not light (read: burst) crackers. Let us celebrate it with diyas,” he added.
Yuvraj, who is out of the national team, is set to play Ranji Trophy for Punjab from the second round onwards.
The 35-year-old made his last appearance for India on their tour of West Indies earlier this year, and since then, he has not been picked for limited-overs games against Sri Lanka and Australia.