A senior member of a minority council on Tuesday issued a fatwa against singer Sonu Nigam for his comments over azaan.
"If anyone can shave his hair, put a garland of old torn shoes around his neck and tour him around the country, I personally announce an award of Rs 10 lakh for that person," said Syed Sha Atef Ali Al Quaderi, vice president, West Bengal Minority United Council.
Terming Nigam as an anti-national, Quaderi said at a press conference on Tuesday that no one had the right to hurt the sentiments of any other religion. "I would have reacted the same way if one had talked ill about the sound of bells coming from a temple as well. People like Nigam should be driven out of the country," he added.
He said the council will organise a mass rally at Rani Rashmoni Avenue in central Kolkata. "It is a rally to send a message across to people like Nigam and RSS leaders, who had recently held a public meeting to insult our prophet. The rally will be attended by people across all faiths," Quaderi said.
Sabir Ali, general secretary of the council said, "People are more disturbed by the cacophony from his music studio than namaz. People are asked to wake up early in the morning in every religion. Just like Muslims wake up early to say namaz, Hindus too wake up early in the morning to do Surya Namaskar. God gives these people prosperity. Our appeal to Nigam is to get up early with the sound of azaan now that his popularity has gone down," said Ali.
The singer on Monday in a series of tweets between 5.25 am and 5.49 am said he did not like to be woken by the sound of azaan. "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," one of the tweets read. 'Gundagardi hai bus...' another of his tweet read.
After he met with severe criticism, he came back with a damage control on Tuesday saying all he wanted was to put a stop on loudspeakers. "Dear everyone. Your stand exposes your own IQ. I stand by my statement that loudspeakers should not be allowed in mosques & temples. Period" his tweet read.
