August 24, 2004
Mid-Day Mumbai (India)
The railway police have imposed a ban on the singing of bhajans in Mumbai’s local trains. Notices have been issued to 500 bhajan mandalis (bhajan-singing groups) asking them to discontinue their practice immediately. Those flouting the ban will be booked for “creating nuisance in a public place” and slapped with a fine. If caught five times, the person/group can be dragged to the nearest police station.
The railway police had recently shot down a proposal by the Muslim League to allow qawwalis in suburban locals. They have now decided they’ve also had enough of the noise pollution created by bhajan mandalis. Defending the clampdown, railway police commissioner Suresh Khopade said, “A few days ago, some people had sought permission to sing qawwalis in trains. We denied the permission because there is no provision in the Railway Police Act for such sessions.
If people from every religion ask for permission to sing their religious songs, it will lead to controversies. In order to prevent any such controversy, we decided to stop bhajans in locals.” Khopade said he believed in persuasion as the method of enforcement. “I travelled on a Borivali-Churchgate local myself, saw a bhajan-singing group, sang bhajans with them and befriended them. I belong to the Warkari sect and can sing bhajans well.
When everybody got off the train at Churchgate, I called the group to my office and told them politely that though they sung really well, they should not continue their bhajans any more. I handed them the notice enforcing the ban and said that if found violating it, they would face action.” Other railway police officers have also been issuing notices, Khopade said, with the result that 500 notices had been given out so far.
The reaction of bhajan mandalis has been a mixed one. Sunil Shah (25), who heads the Jai Ambe Pravasi Mandal that commutes from Virar to Churchgate every day, said: “Police are very strict. I have been caught at least ten times.Nowadays we sing only when the train is on the move and stop whenever a station approaches. Once we’ve crossed Andheri (when heading southwards), we stop singing altogether.”
According to Shah, the ban is unfair. “We just sing bhajans and are not troubling anyone,” he said. Gopalkrishna Bhajan Mandal’s head Hasmukh Dani (40) said: “We would like to continue with our bhajans but we can’t go against the law. However, we are planning to meet (North Mumbai) MP Govinda regarding this matter.” Dwarka Bhajan Mandal’s head Haresh Shah said: “Railway police are enforcing the law, so even though we disagree with them, we have stopped singing.”
Posted by acapnews at August 24, 2004 9:10 PM
