Meerut: A day after Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam landed in trouble for his controversial tweets calling azaan from a nearby mosque’s loudspeaker as “forced religiousness”, members of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha have demanded a complete ban on the use of loudspeakers in mosques for azaan. They have written a letter in this regard to UP CM Yogi Aditya Nath.
In his letter to the CM, Munna Kumar Sharma, national general secretary, Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, said, “There should be a complete ban on use of loudspeakers during azaans because loudspeakers are used for making communal speeches and inciting the community against other communities. In fact, in the past, speeches over loudspeakers have been used for fomenting communal clashes.”
The Hindu outfit’s reaction came a day after Sonu Nigam in a series of tweets from his official Twitter handle @SonuNigam, had said, “God bless everyone. I’m not a Muslim and I have to be woken up by the Azaan in the morning. When will this forced religiousness end in India. And by the way Mohammed did not have electricity when he made Islam.. Why do I have to have this cacophony after Edison?” (sic.)
Nigam further clarified his stance in his Twitter rants, “I don’t believe in any temple or gurudwara using electricity To wake up people who don’t follow the religion. Why then..? Honest? True? Gundagardi hai bus…” (sic.)
Pandit Ashok Sharma, national vice-president, Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, said, “A ban should be put on use of loudspeakers in mosques for azaan because azaan is done in Persian and Arabic language – which are not recognized by the Indian Constitution unlike Hindi, English or Urdu. Persian and Arabic are foreign languages and prayers in these languages should not be said over loudspeakers.”