Pragya Thakur says that the 5 am loudspeaker noise’ disturbs people’s sleep and sadhus’ sadhana as Hindu meditation starts at 4 am.
On her recent visit to Varanasi, she is heard saying in a video of a meeting she held, “Early morning noise from loudspeakers. “People forcefully use loudspeakers but will not listen to the prayers of other religions.”
She said, “Since 5 am, everyone’s sleep is disturbed; patients get high blood pressure, face various problems, some patients spend sleepless nights and in the early morning hours, when they feel sleepy, then the sounds come and sleep is disrupted.”
She added, “This ‘early morning noise’ clashes with the meditation of Hindu sadhus, for sadhus and sanyasis, meditation starts at 4 am or Brahma Muhurta (is a period that begins one hour and 36 minutes before sunrise, and ends 48 minutes later). Our timing for the first Aarti is also Brahma Muhurta. But nobody is bothered about that.”
“And when we use the loudspeaker, they start having problems and say that they cannot listen to the prayers of any other religion. Listening to prayers of another religion is not permitted in their religion. That it is not allowed or legal in Islam,” she said.
State Congress reacted strongly to this and party spokesman Narendra Saluja said, “This is not the time for arguments on Adhan and Puja. As MP of Bhopal, this is the time for her to go to Hamidia Hospital and stand with the parents of those dead newborn babies. Pragya Thakur should focus on Bhopal and extend her help to fire tragedy victims instead of diverting issues.”
Bhupendra Gupta, PCC media cell vice-president of Congress said that Pragya’s statement “degrades the Indian culture of Sarv Dharm Sambhav”. “In Sanatan Dharm, the time for getting up from sleep and prayers happens during Brahma Muhurta. But the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (one family) has also given strength to it. Sanatan Dharm does not permit the use of religion for political ends,” Gupta said.
Congress MLA from Bhopal (Central) constituency Arif Masood said, “I regret that she is the MP from Bhopal and represents people of this constituency. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he belongs to the whole country and its 125 crore people. Pragya was chosen by the PM to contest from Bhopal, yet this is the opinion she has for another person’s religion. I am very pained. She is also a sadhvi and gives discourses to people about religion. She should not have such feelings about another religion. I think this is shameful.”
Who is Pragya Singh Thakur?
Pragya Singh Thakur, born on 2 February 1970, known as Sadhvi Pragya, is an Indian politician and Member of Parliament representing Bhopal and belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party. During her college days, she was an active member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and later joined various affiliate organizations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
She has been implicated in the 2008 Malegaon bombings where 10 people were killed and 82 more were injured and arrested on terror charges after her bike was found to be used in the bomb blast. She is currently under trial for multiple charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. In 2017 she was granted bail on health grounds following the dropping of some of the serious charges by the National Investigation Agency.
She contested the 2019 Indian general election from Bhopal constituency, running against Digvijaya Singh of the Indian National Congress, the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and won by a margin of 364,822 votes.
According to political specialist Christophe Jaffrelot, she became the “symbol” of the 2019 election, in which nebulous fringe elements of the Hindutva ideology became mainstream.
On 21 November 2019 Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was made a part of the 21-member parliamentary consultative committee on defense, which is headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. After her comment in parliament, where she called Nathuram Godse (Gandhi’s assassin) a patriot, she was criticized by opposition party members. On 28 November, she was removed from the committee on defense as well as BJP parliamentary party meetings.
Comment: Despite Pragya Thakur’s claim that Sadhus and sanyasis are disturbed by the Muslim Adhan, the sadhus and sanyasis in Varanasi think differently as Hindus and Muslims have together harmoniously in Varanasi for decades. It seems that this is just another ploy of the BJP to promote communal politics once again before the elections. Listen to what this Sadhu says in the video revealing that the heart of Hinduism is religious tolerance and the politicians are making a mess of things.