Popular singer Sonu Nigam, who earlier this year fired a series of tweets announcing his displeasure at the call of the azaan on loudspeakers appropriating it to ‘forced religiousness’, recently added on Thursday that he had also mentioned ‘temple’ and ‘gurdwara’ in his posts on the micro blogging platform, however only the azaan was highlighted.
“The issue of loudspeaker was in my office. But when I raised my voice against it, they fit one near my house also as a way to protest. It’s the right of every citizen to raise their voice against anything wrong and not tolerate it,” Sonu Nigam commented at the Manthan Aaj Tak conclave.
Seems like the veteran is just not prepared for the spotlight to leave him as yet!
He further said, “In the azaan incident, religion was also added. In India, people don’t try to understand the meaning of words and try to look into it deeply. In the same post, I had mentioned temple, gurdwara, but the only thing highlighted was azaan.”
“I am not a religious person, but I believe in God. I see God in everybody. I believe in all the religions. Even some of my close friends stood against me during that time. But not all of them were against me. Today, a lot of people praise the step that I took during that time,” he continued.
Back in the days, Nigam had even shaved off his head in an act of defiance of a fatwa issued by Syed Sha Atef Ali Al Quaderi of the West Bengal Minority Council, who offered Rs 1 million in sum total as a reward to anyone who would have the singer go bald and garland him with old shoes.
Has Nigam made his point clear enough in the latest turn of tales? Or is he simply wishing to invoke the scars of a controversy fizzled-out while he cries over spilled milk?
Published in Daily Times, October 28th 2017.