Today, singer Sonu Nigam took Twitter by storm with his criticism of Mosques using loudspeakers to relay Azaan (call for prayer). An irate Nigam took to Twitter to bring to notice how difficult it is for him wake up to Azaan despite not being a Muslim every single day. He 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.” Nigam got mixed reactions on Twitter. While some said that his comments were in bad taste and represented his intolerance towards a certain community, others noted that irrespective of religion, the use of loudspeakers for religious activities is indeed an inconvenience to people. To Nigam’s defence, he did write in one his tweets that he was against the use of loudspeakers by all religions.
However, Nigam’s concern for noise pollution and people’s sleep being affected by Azaan crashes into a thousand pieces when you discover that the singer is an avid Mata Ki Chowki attender. He sings in several mata ki chowkis.
Now how are chowkis any different from the noise levels of Azaan when it comes to disturbing someone’s sleep, asked many on Twitter.
Also, the plight of those unable to sleep at night due to Mata ki chowki, jagran, kirtan etc etc https://t.co/Q2yDTqtbQ6
— Sayantan Bera (@sayantanbera) April 17, 2017
@sonunigam You forgot your days wen you use to sing mata ki chowki,bhajans n imposing forced religiousness, fullon nautanki to stay in news
— sarfrhnz08 (@SazFrhnz08) April 17, 2017
@fukrajatt Because he didnt balance his tweet out by including bhajans, gurbani, jagratas, mata ki chowki, DJ Khaled, DJ Suketu and Kanye West.
— Brah-mean (@SagarDeoskar) April 17, 2017
@sonunigam I am a big fan of yours. But have you ever tweeted against blaring loudpeakers from raucous Kirtans and ‘mata ki chowki’?
— meenakshi thakur (@THAK2012) April 17, 2017
What about keeping everyone awake whole night with Mata ki Chowki using electricity? https://t.co/cc4bwTeDbX
— Kunāl 嗎 俊 德 (@kunalmajumder) April 17, 2017
At best, Azaan would be over in a matter of minutes. On the contrary, a mata ki chowki will continue for the whole night. Unless, one believes that the bhajan, kirtans and some Bollywood remixes in Mata ki chowki lulls you into sleep, there is no justification for such hypocrisy.
As for all the nightcrawlers who don’t get any sleep anyway, enjoy Sonu Nigam’s Mata ki chowki juke box:
