By Jose Kavi
Lucknow, May 2, 2022: Some Catholic leaders in Uttar Pradesh have welcomed a government drive to remove loud speakers from religious places in the northern Indian state.
“If the government is doing it in a non-partisan way and without religious prejudices, it is to be appreciated,” says Father Anand Mathew, who quoted some reports to point out that majority of the loudspeakers removed in the past decades were from the Hindu temple tops.
The Uttar Pradesh government on April 25 began a statewide drive to remove unauthorized loudspeakers from religious places and set the volume of others within permissible limits.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar told reporters that by May 1 morning they have removed a total of 53,942 loudspeakers and set the volume of 60,295 loudspeakers within permissible limits.
Kumar clarified that they are removing the loudspeakers from all religious places without any discrimination.
Meanwhile a senior home department official confirmed that the drive will continue in the coming days.
Those loudspeakers which have been placed without taking due permission from the district administration or the ones which are placed in excess of the permitted numbers are categorized as unauthorized, Kumar explained.
He said the administration also considered the High Court order regarding loudspeakers.
After a 2017 government order on the matter, the High Court had asked it if loudspeakers at religious and public places were installed after taking permission in writing from authorities referring to the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000.
The latest drive began after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, during a review meeting in April, said that people have the freedom to perform their religious practices according to their faith. “Though microphones can be used, it should be ensured that the sound does not come out of any premises. People should not face any problem,” he had said.
Father Mathew, who promotes interreligious harmony based in Varanasi, told Matters India that he has not heard of churches being targeted in the present campaign.
However, the Uttar the UP government had failed to restrict loudspeakers blasting devotional and sometimes communal messages out of a religious zeal, said the member of the Indian Missionary Society.
Another Christian leader in the state, chhotebhai says churches normally do not use a public address system that goes outside their premises.
the Kanpur-based convener of Indian Christian Forum, a laity movement, questions the timing of the current drive.
“The only suspicious aspect is why was this done during Ramzan and just before Eid? Also why there is no ban on loudspeakers and bands during barats (marriage processions? Are they also not a nuisance and causing sound pollution?” asked the former national president of the All India Catholic Union.
Father Mathew says churches in Uttar Pradesh had a tradition of broadcasting hymns through loud speakers in the morning hours.
“There used to be an atmosphere of a pride (almost close to arrogance) in blasting our Christian devotional songs in a non-Christian milieu. But this trend has changed in the recent past, and I think it’s a welcome change. We should never cause difficulties for people of other faiths.