Azaan Row: Saif Ali Khan Reacts To Sonu Nigam’s Tweet; Jwala Gutta Stands By Him

In a series of tweets, Nigam blew up a controversy when he lashed out at “forced religiousness” in India after being woken up by the ‘azaan’ (Muslim call for prayer) from a mosque near his home. He added that he doesn’t believe in any temple or gurudwara using loudspeakers to wake up people who don’t follow the religion. He had described the use of loudspeakers to broadcast sermons and calls to prayers by mosques, temples and gurudwaras as ‘forced religiousness’.

Things took a wrong turn soon with fatwas being issued against him and the singer facing flak on social media for being ‘communal’. Saif Ali Khan is the latest to join the bandwagon of celebs who have reacted on the issue.

The actor told a leading daily that while he agrees that the lesser the sound the better it is, he also feels that there should be certain decibel levels allowed across religious practices. The actor has also alleged that the amplification of the sound during azaan comes from insecurity. Comparing the situation in India to Israel, the actor said that in Israel also three different religions co-exist. However, he feels that the singer’s tweet was a bit aggressive initially but he is of the opinion that religion should be a private affair and India should be a secular country.

Sonu Nigam has repeatedly said that he is not against any particular religion and is just trying to raise awareness about sound pollution. He had tweeted. “It was about Loudspeaker, and only loudspeaker. Too bad that they r on Mosques, Temples & Gurudwaras, thus the reference. Let’s be human 1st”

Sonu Nigam also shared a video on Twitter on Saturday, in which the sound of Azaan can be heard loud and clear from his house.

Goodmorning India pic.twitter.com/gG8lqPZTSQ

— Sonu Nigam (@sonunigam) April 23, 2017

Indian badminton player Jwala Gutta has extended her support to Sonu Nigam. Jwala tweeted, “I am a fan of ur singing..now of ur courage.”

Earlier celebrities like Javed Akhtar, Richa Chadha, Randeep Hooda, Taslima Nasreen and Sunil Grover have supported Sonu Nigam’s opinion.