In Maharashtra’s Hanuman Chalisa vs Azaan Clash, BJP Leader’s Offer

Mumbai:

A BJP chief in Maharashtra has provided to bankroll loudspeakers to play the Hanuman Chalisa in public locations, fanning a fractious marketing campaign in opposition to the Azaan – the Islamic name to prayer – championed by right-wing political leaders.

“Anybody who wants a loudspeaker to put in it in a temple can ask us without cost! All Hindus ought to have one voice! Jai Shri Ram! Har Har Mahadev!” Mohit Kamboj, a billionaire bullion dealer and among the many richest BJP leaders, tweeted.

The supply comes because the BJP and the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) intensify a name to ban loudspeakers taking part in the Azaan from mosques.

MNS leaders in a number of components of Maharashtra have taken to taking part in the Hanuman Chalisa from loudspeakers after a call-to-arms by Raj Thackeray at a rally in Mumbai over the weekend on the event of the Marathi New Yr competition Gudi Padwa.

Timed simply forward of the elections for India’s richest municipal physique – the Brihanmumbai Municipal Company or BMC – the controversy might assist the MNS and the BJP nook the Shiv Sena which guidelines Maharashtra in alliance with the Nationalist Congress Occasion (NCP) and the Congress.

Whereas Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray was among the many earliest proponents of banning the loudspeakers outdoors mosques that ship out prayer calls 5 instances a day, the get together has softened its hard-line Hindutva stance, particularly after forming the coalition in 2019.

Nevertheless, Raj Thackeray, who broke away from the get together in 2005 after a rift with Bal Thackeray’s son and now Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, has maintained the hard-line place.

Maharashtra House Minister Dilip Walse Patil of the NCP has criticised the newest provocations, saying the statements are aimed toward dividing society.

Shiv Sena chief Sanjay Raut too hit out on the BJP and MNS. “Raj Thackeray was speaking about taking down the loudspeakers put in in mosques yesterday. First, see during which all BJP dominated states Azaan has been stopped, loudspeakers faraway from mosques… That is Maharashtra, the place regulation of the land is adopted,” he mentioned on Sunday.

Samajwadi Occasion chief Abu Azmi, in the meantime, has taken a curious stance on the controversy, launching a juice stall, claiming that Muslims are able to welcome individuals taking part in Hanuman Chalisa and might be providing them drinks.