Mumbai Azaan Row: Police Survey Reveals 72% Mosques Have Reduced Volume Or Stopped Using Loudspeakers

Thackeray had issued an 'ultimatum' of May 3 to Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government to ensure that all loudspeakers installed in Mosques are "silenced or dismantled".

Devotees praying inside a Juma Masjid mosque in Mumbai. (File Photo/ Getty)

Mumbai: Amid a raging controversy over the use of loudspeakers at mosques raked up last week by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President Raj Thackeray, Mumbai Police have recently conducted surveys to figure out the use of loudspeakers during morning prayers (azaan).

According to survey findings, about 72 per cent of mosques in Mumbai have significantly reduced the volume of loudspeakers during morning azaan, while many have even stopped using it. 

Thackeray had issued an 'ultimatum' of May 3 to Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government to ensure that all loudspeakers installed in Mosques are "silenced or dismantled". He also threatened that if not done, MNS workers to blare out Hanuman Chalisa on loudspeakers outside mosques in retaliation.

Sources close to Mumbai Police also clarified that some of the aforementioned surveys were conducted before Raj Thackeray's speech and some were conducted post his speech.

Raj Thackeray, however, clarified that he was not against any religious activities but is only opposing the use of loudspeakers which had social and health implications for all people.

Meawhile, Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil said earlier in the day that Police are fully prepared to ward off any eventuality on the law and order front in the state. Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Walse Patil said the state director general of police will hold a meeting with all police officers on this issue and a decision will be taken after he submits a report.

In is also noteworthy that Raj Thackeray's demand of removing loudspeakers from mosques is being supported by various leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 

Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut accused the estranged ally BJP of using communal riots as a 'tool' to win polls and instigate communal strife in parts of Maharashtra and the country.

"In Mumbai, you have already created tensions over the loudspeaker issue. There are many cities where such a situation exists and this is hurting the country's economy. This hurts FDI and domestic investment. This instils fear among the labour class," Raut told reporters.

 (With inputs from agencies.)