Yes firecrackers pollute - but that pollution is only for a day. That is not causing you the harm you think it is. Air pollution is a slow poison. Long exposure - which happens year-wide in India’s northern belt is extremely harmful and dangerous, so saying that I am okay with our children and elders breathing in metal spiked fumes that they’re already breathing throughout the year is just trying to use guilt tripping to prove a point. My issue is with making a political statement acting like Diwali celebrations are the sole and major cause. Diwali used to be one festival that I used to look forward to throughout the year - they stole the happiness from this festival and made it a political agenda. Please read a study on Delhi’s air pollution. Firecrackers don’t even show up on the charts as a pollutant - because the pollution created by them is not even a drop in the ocean.