Bengaluru: The Azaan-Hanuman Chalisa row reached Karnataka on Monday as activists of Sri Ram Sene in Belagavi began chanting Hanuman Chalisa at 5 am countering the Azan from Sonya Maruti Temple.
Sene activists in large numbers assembled at the temple and chanted Hanuman Chalisa for about an hour. The volume of the public address system at the temple was more than that of the mosques in the vicinity wherein the azaan was being heard. Sri Ram Sena founder Pramod Muthalik claimed that the chanting of the Hanuman Chalisa and ‘Suprabhata’ (morning) prayers were performed at more than 1,000 temples against Azaan in mosques.
The police have taken activists into custody who were all set to launch the Hanuman Chalisa chanting at a temple in Bengaluru. It has beefed up the security throughout the state as the issue could trigger communal clashes.
Sene District President Ravikumar Kokitkar informed the media that “Patients and students are troubled by the Azaan offered early in the morning. Congress has made Muslims to feel that they are above the law. Congress has also created fear of Muslims. Law must be upheld and no one is above law.”
According to local media reports, few Sri Ram Sene activists were taken into preventive custody to maintain peace and harmony across the state. Hindu activists were also detained by police after an altercation near the Anjaneya Swamy Temple in Neelasandra, Bangalore.
(Smit Soni)