Request BJP to remove loudspeakers in states where it's in power: VHP's Pravin Togadia

Commenting on the demand that the Maharashtra government should remove loudspeakers from mosques, recently made by the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Togadia pointed out that the BJP, when it ruled in the state, took no such step.

Nagpur: The tension surrounding the issue of loudspeakers in mosques saw another twist when former Vishva Hindu Parishad president Pravin Togadia, on Tuesday (April 19), said that the BJP should remove loudspeakers from mosques in the states where it is in power. Commenting on the demand that the Maharashtra government remove loudspeakers from mosques, recently made by the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), he also pointed out that the BJP, when it ruled in the state, took no such step.

"I would like to request my brothers in the BJP to first remove loudspeakers in the states where their party is in power. You are protesting in Maharashtra, but not removing loudspeakers in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat," Togadia said, speaking to reporters in Nagpur.

Without naming Raj Thackeray, he also said this demand was not raised when the BJP was in power. "We had demanded the removal of loudspeakers from mosques in Maharashtra some 10 years ago, and we are demanding the same in Uttar Pradesh for the last two years," Togadia said. The Union government should implement the Supreme Court's order on loudspeakers across the country, he demanded.

Meanwhile, 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. He also insinuated that MNS has been doing BJP's bidding by raising the issue of loudspeakers atop mosques. "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 instills fear among the labour class," Raut told reporters.

Raj Thackeray had asked the state government to get loudspeakers atop mosques removed by May 3, failing which his party would play Hanuman Chalisa at a higher volume outside mosques.

(With PTI inputs)