Noise of all religions: Why single out azaan, Sonu Nigam?
Given the everyday cacophony that pervades India — the honking cars, vegetable vendor's wails, the (holy) cow's mooing, in the middle of the road, the ear-splitting phone ringtones and loud private conversations in public places — it seems a bit nasty for an acclaimed singer to pick on the morning azaan alone and declare it as "gundagardi".
Singer Sonu Nigam feels the muezzin's call to prayers is "forced religiousness" and the nuisance from the microphones installed at religious places disturbs his sleep.
On Monday, the singer, woken up from his slumber by the azaan call, took on to Twitter against such "forced religiousness". As usual his fans supported the "sensitive" singer while some others reminded him of the "nuisance" created by him.
Nigam not just complained about the Muslim call to prayer on Twitter, but kind of tried to justify his annoyance with arguments like this:
“And by the way, Mohammed did not have electricity when he made Islam...Why do I have to have this cacophony after Edison?”
Twitter users were quick to point out the use of loudspeakers during festivals celebrated by other religions and also that the singer is known to perform at such events.
One Twitter user said:
@sonunigam Am a Hindu but isn't same "inconvinience" faced by Non Hindus too when we blare loudspeakers for Navratri n Ganesh processions?
— Maya (@IamMayaSharma) April 17, 2017
In India, it is quite easy to miss a mosque (with the most-famous-and-fought-for Babri Masjid standing with a broken facade and hundreds and thousands of big and small, dilapidated green buildings in the middle of crowded localities). But what is almost impossible to miss is the loudspeakers atop these mosques from where the muezzin calls five times a day.
There is reason behind the protests against the calls to prayers over loudspeakers. Why should anybody's faith be thrust upon anyone else. It's uncalled for. And this is not only true for mosques, but all other places of religious worship and celebrations.
So, is Sonu Nigam wrong in pointing out the nuisance?
While there's no denying that one group’s expression of faith could be another’s noise pollution, the protests directed towards just one faith certainly seems like singling out one nuisance to mute the cacophony emanating from other faiths.
Even though Nigam clarified that he was not targeting a particular community, many thought it did sound like an attack on (let's take the name of the community) — Muslims.
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
And even if we do fall for attempts at political correctness, how does the singer justify the nuisance he has forced on people in the past. A Twitter user cheekily reminded the singer of his jagrata days.
Dear Sonu Nigam u forget u started ur career doing jagrata all night. Where was gundagardi thn. If azaan shd stop thn jagrata shd also stop.
— G.MISHRA (@Satyameva_J) April 17, 2017
Every now and then Indians (according to the political atmosphere of the county) keep fighting over loudspeakers in mosques. There have near-riots and "gundagardi" in the name of equal rights to spread nuisance, where belligerent Hindu outfits have threatened to make 5am bhajans and aartis on loudspeakers mandatory to counter the azaan.
Some succeeded while others drowned out with time.
The VHP in 2014 demanded that loudspeakers should be banned from being used in mosques since that's a major cause of noise pollution.
That same year, a Navi Mumbai resident, Santosh Pachalag, petitioned the Bombay High Court against "illegal use of loudspeakers" by mosques in his area.
The high court directed the police to remove "illegal" loudspeakers from mosques. Many in the Muslim community welcomed the verdict. They said in many mosques the use of loudspeakers defeats the purpose for which the muezzins call out to the faithful.
But the fight over the muezzin's call underlines a fundamental problem in India beyond the traditional Hindu-Muslim conflict.
It should ideally have been a fight against noise pollution of all kinds — cars honking, celebratory cracker bursting, weddings, festivals and every cricket match India win etc, etc.
The fact is, every such noise is forced and hence called pollution. But in our country, we have never followed any such unwritten code of behaviour. Noise has never been a problem in our country. Everybody is allowed to create noise pollution and get away with it.
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| Last year, the singer, was caught in a controversy over singing on a Jet Airways flight using the airplane's public announcement system. |
The real problem here is not the innocuous loudspeakers, it's the nuisance coming from them and forced upon everybody, which Nigam pointed out.
He is every bit right in drawing attention towards a genuine nuisance, but his timing and anger over "forced religiousness" also sounds strange (and not because of his jagrata past — let's not hold his past against him).
Last year, the singer, was caught in a controversy over singing on a Jet Airways flight using the airplane's public announcement system. As a result of his nuisance, the aviation regulator and the airline suspended five cabin crew members.
He then reacted, saying: "I have witnessed an elaborate fashion show in an aircraft. I have heard of small concerts happening in an aircraft... I have seen pilots and crew members cracking humorous jokes to loosen up passengers in other countries, which is so cool. And while all that is acceptable, even welcome, here, to suspend crew members for asking me to sing on the address system, when the seat belt signs were off, and no announcements were to be made, is nothing less than punishing someone for spreading happiness."
Naturally, the singer feels it's okay to use an airplane's public announcement system to sing and spread his mellifluous voice and assume that everybody present wants to listen to it (forget all safety concerns just because a smitten crew requested him to sing). Now, that's something that doesn't quite justify Nigam's new-found logic against noise pollution or forcing anything on unsuspecting listeners.
The truth is super singers and other such stars suddenly wake up to certain realities of this country (which have been screaming for attention for long) only when it suits the political atmosphere of a country, where an entertainment industry and its artistes try to reap the maximum benefit and stay relevant with their unsolicited comments, if not their art.
Sonu Nigam has a rich voice, he should use it to soothe people's nerves and preach what he practices, not just tweet and rake up potential religious conflicts.