A day after he protested against being woken up by the sound of the Muslim call to prayer, singer Sonu Nigam on Tuesday clarified that he was criticising the use of loudspeakers in issuing it. Responding to support from Gujarat MP and Congress leader Ahmed Patel, Nigam tweeted, “This is how Sensible people Interpret an issue. Respect Mr Ahmed Patel. It is not about Azaan or Aarti. It’s about Loudspeaker.”
A day earlier, the singer had posted a series of tweets complaining about the Muslim call to prayer. “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 had said, drawing near-immediate outrage.
He supplemented his complaint with a puzzling analogy: “And by the way, Mohammed did not have electricity when he made Islam...Why do I have to have this cacophony after Edison?” Then, to clarify that he was not targeting a particular community, he added, “I don’t believe in any temple or gurudwara using electricity to wake up people who don’t follow the religion.”
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