Uttar Pradesh: MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday elicited full praise for UP CM Yogi Adityanath after the administration claimed to have removed 10,923 loudspeakers from religious places across the state upon his orders.
“In a statement, Raj Thackeray said, “I wholeheartedly congratulate and stand grateful to the Yogi government for having removed the loudspeakers from religious places, especially the Masjids. Unfortunately in Maharashtra, we don’t have any ‘Yogis’; what we have are ‘bhogis’ (hedonists). Here’s hoping and praying good sense prevails”.
Law enforcement officials have referred to these loudspeakers as “unauthorised”, “illegal” and having been placed without due permission from district administration or in excess of permitted numbers.
“A statewide drive being undertaken to remove unauthorised loudspeakers from religious places and set the volume of others within permissible limits,” press quoted as saying Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar.
The drive stemmed from the latest review meet held by CM with senior officials where the use of loudspeakers was banned while microphones were permitted only to the decibel that the sound didn’t go outside the premises.
Raj Thackeray had put forth the demand for the removal of loudspeakers from mosques during his massive rally in Thane on April 12th. Opining that the loudspeaker row is not a religious but a social issue, he added, “I want to tell the state government, we will not go back on this subject, do whatever you want to do”. Subsequently, the discourse was held and permission was mandated for the use of loudspeakers from May 3rd.