SHIVAMOGGA: Activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal on Monday held a demonstration on the steps of the deputy commissioner’s office to protest against reciting of the azan at the same place by a Muslim man during a protest last week.
Raising ‘Jai Sri Ram’ slogans, the Hindu activists demanded that the police register a suo motu case against the Muslim man for reciting the azan and insisted on strict punishment. They also ‘purified’ the place with gau mutra. The police tried to stop them, leading to some pushing and shoving.
It is said said that the man recited the azan to protest against former minister K S Eshwarappa’s remarks over ‘azan and Allah’. The Muslim community was protesting in front of the Shivamogga DC’s office last Friday, shouting slogans against Eshwarappa and expressing their outrage.
During the BJP’s Vijay Sankalp Yatra rally at Shanti Nagar in Kavoor in Mangaluru last Sunday, the azan could heard in the background when Eshwarappa started his speech. “This is a headache for me wherever I go”, Eshwarppa said while pointing in the direction from where the azan was being recited. “There is a Supreme Court order and sooner of later, this will end. There should be no doubt about it. Can Allah hear only if it announced through a loudspeaker? Then the question arises if he is deaf”, he had said.
Meanwhile, Eshwarappa held a press conference and criticised the recital of the azan at the DC’s office premises. He also clarified that he never said Allah was deaf but only questioned if he was deaf. “I have said only what the Supreme Court has said. Strict action should be taken against the use of loudspeakers and I will write to the Chief Minister and to the Union government soon”, he added.