... On religious festivals (people) disturb peace of the neighbourhood, creates chaos in civic life and foul the environment ... Be it Dussehra, Pooja, Diwali, Holi, Sikh Gurus birthdays or martyrdom anniversaries. Moharrum or the Prophet's birth anniversary. My reasoning is simple: religion should be confined to the home or a place of worship. Highways and public places must remain accessible to citizens at all times.

... Local administrations are unwilling or unable to impose discipline on the people. Despite warnings and propaganda on radio and TV (very creditable) not to exploded high decibel crackers on Diwali and despite the weather being inclement, bombs started exploding two days before Diwali, became a non-stop barrage of explosions on Diwali and the left-overs took another two days to be exhausted. A cloud smelling of gunpowder hung in the air for another night and day .... Then there is the continuing menace of loudspeakers. The Calcutta High Court took the lead in banning their use. No other High Court followed the precedent nor did any citizen have the courage to take the matter to a judge. Civic-minded people should file petitions in their High Courts to end this menace. These thekedars of religiosity must not be allowed to make religious practices into a public nuisance.

Of religious practices that have become de rigueur in our country, the most irksome are processions. Worship of God, homage to prophets or saints is not enhanced by marching through the city's ... thoroughfares with elephants, camels, horses, brassbands, gutka players and other kinds of buffoonery which brings normal traffic to standstill for many hours. As it is, we are a people with little consideration for others; religious ritual must not give further sanction for us to be more inconsiderate towards our fellow citizens. ... (Source: The Nation and the World, 1 December, 1998)