By Shaik Zakeer Hussain, TwoCircles.net,
Mangalore: In an ostensibly provocative act to disturb communal harmony among different religious communities, Rashtriya Hindu Andolan, a little known Mangalore based Hindutva outfit has called for the morning Muslim call to prayer (Adhan) to be banned across the country.
Activists from various right wing groups organised a protest in Mangalore on Sunday morning in front of the office of Deputy Commissioner, demanding the authorities to impose ban on the Adhan call during early morning.
“Every citizen has the right to practice his own religion and tradition in India. But their way of practice should not harm others,” said Vijayalaxmi, an activist from Sanatana Dharma, one of the many smaller and larger organisations participating in the protest. Vivek Pai, Vice President of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, said that sleep is the birth right of every citizen and the Supreme Court of India has placed restrictions on the use of loudspeakers in public places. He said that the use of loudspeakers between 10 pm and 6 am in public places is restricted, and questioned the use of loudspeakers for the call of prayer in a mosque. He called for a permanent stop on using loudspeakers for Adhaan, and called for severe punishment against those officers permitting the use of loudspeakers or anyone using loudspeakers for Adhaan.
Bharat Kranti Sena chief Pranavananda Swami, who had tried to commit suicide by pouring kerosene on himself in January this year opposing televangelist Benny Hinn’s programme in Bangalore, and who had announced Rs 1 lakh cash reward to Karnataka’s Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) trooper who killed 23 year old Mangalore youth Mohammed Kabeer, who many believe was a victim of an ‘extra judicial murder’, said that protest against morning Adhan will continue, “until a strict ban on that ritual will come into force in the entire country.”
The protest follows a series of violent incidents witnessed in Mangalore in recent days, which many Muslims believe is a forerunner to events to come in the future. The day Narendra Modi led BJP to a historic victory at the centre, a group of inebriated right wing hooligans attacked two Mosques in separate places of the district. One group burst crackers, entered a madrassa in Vittla village and shouted slogans of victory. In an another incident in the neighboring village of Hoode, Mohammed Ais, a chicken stall owner was beaten up by a gang after getting into an altercation with him about the results of the elections. In the coastal region of Kundapur, an ornamental pot at the entrance of the Holy Rosary church was found broken by miscreants, and a signpost leading to St. Antony Church in Koteshwar was also found uprooted.
State Vice president of Sri Rama Sene Kumar Malemar, Nagesh Bajilakeri of Hindu Yuvasena, Rajesh Poojary, Udayshanker Devadiga, Rajesh Pavitran,Lokesh, Vivek Anchan and Leelavati were also present among others in the protest.