Complaining about being forced to wake up early due to the loud azaan (Islamic call to worship) happening near his home every morning, Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam called this everyday activity a case of “forced religiousness” and gundagardi (hooligansim).
Taking to Twitter, the singer openly declared that since he isn’t a Muslim, he shouldn’t be “forced” to listen to the loudspeakers that blare the early morning prayers.
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
— Sonu Nigam (@sonunigam) April 16, 2017
And by the way Mohammed did not have electricity when he made Islam.. Why do I have to have this cacophony after Edison?
— Sonu Nigam (@sonunigam) April 17, 2017
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?
— Sonu Nigam (@sonunigam) April 17, 2017
Gundagardi hai bus…
— Sonu Nigam (@sonunigam) April 17, 2017
Twitteratti have since shown no mercy over his comments and have done what the Internet does best:
Don’t want to hear the Azaan at dawn, nor do I want to hear a Chikni Chameli tuned Ganesh Aarti at dusk. Ban ALL loudspeakering of religion. https://t.co/BVu1Nb6mKR
— Apurva Asrani (@Apurvasrani) April 17, 2017
God bless everyone. I’m not a Hindu but I’m not allowed to eat beef. When will this forced religiousness end in India? https://t.co/tp1vyOoh5v
— Err (@Errendous) April 17, 2017
Loudspeakers should be banned for any religious or social event in public places.Including weddings where your songs blare through the night https://t.co/5McMMq6eX2
— Nidhi Razdan (@RazdanNidhi) April 17, 2017
Predictably, quite like how people erroneously boycotted Snapdeal instead of Snapchat, social media users have been tweeting out to Sonu Sood demanding him to apologise for his “insensitive statements”.
Can’t wait for us to outrage at Sonu Sood for his religious comments
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) April 17, 2017
@thetanmay Ha ha..Ws litrlly gng thru Sonu Sood’s tweets until I rlzd it wz Sonu Nigam. Nyc 1.
— Kushal (@keypalkushal) April 17, 2017
The actor, meanwhile, took it in good spirits.
I am still wondering WHO said WHAT n to WHOM ?? n WHO’S asking me to find out WHAT happened WHERE ???
— sonu sood (@SonuSood) April 17, 2017
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
A Quint report states that in 2015, following a PIL, the Bombay High Court had ordered that loudspeakers be removed from mosques with no permit in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. A bench of Justices VM Kanade and PD Kode, had said that unauthorised loudspeakers, whether they were used in mosques, Ganeshotsav or any other festival, were illegal and must be seized as they cause noise pollution.
Pic: REUTERS/Mike Cassese
