Sonu Nigam flares the Azaan controversy once again!

Earlier this year, singer Sonu Nigam saw himself in the thick of a controversy for his tweets on loudspeakers used for the morning Azaan, which he said disturbed his sleep. He had tweeted, “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.” He got severely criticised and even threatened for the same, post which he clarified, saying that he didn’t mean to target only the mosques, but also the Temples, Gurudwaras and every other place which makes use of loudspeakers at inappropriate time. In protest, he quit Twitter after a long string of tweets. Then, he quit Twitter and even shaved off his head after a Maulvi issued a fatwa asking him to do the same as he had said a shameful thing.

He got his head shaved off by Aalim Hakim to prove a point that he is not anti-Muslim (given Aalim is a Muslim). And now, after several months, the singer has once again addressed the issue at the Manthan Aaj Tak conclave. Said Sonu, “The issue of loudspeaker was in my office. But when I raised my voice against it, they fit one near my house also as a way to protest. It’s the right of every citizen to raise their voice against anything wrong and not tolerate it.”

He added, “In the Azaan incident, religion was also added. In India, people don’t try to understand the meaning of words and try to look into it deeply. In the same post, I had mentioned Temple, Gurudwara, but the only thing highlighted was Azaan. And by the way Mohammed did not have electricity when he made Islam. Why do I have to have this cacophony after Edison? 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.” (Also Read: Here’s what Sonu Nigam has to say about the importance of devotional music)

He spoke about how hurt he was to discover that some of his close Bollywood friends also stood against him during the incident. Said Sonu, “I am not a religious person, but I believe in God. I see God in everybody. I believe in all the religions. Even some of my close friends stood against me during that time. But not all of them were against me. Today, a lot of people praise the step that I took during that time.”

Inputs from IANS

Prajakta Ajgaonkar

Passionate about writing, and a Bollywood lover, she is all that is sweet and endearing! She desires to put her best foot forward in everything that she does and loves to help anyone who’s in need.