On April 20, Sonu Nigam shaved his head in defiance of a 'fatwa'
Highlights
- Sonu Nigam: How can we allow such things like fatwa?
- "I don't like gundagardi (hooliganism) in any form," said Sonu Nigam
- "You can't threaten a family in the name of religion," said Sonu Nigam
. The 43-year-old singer has now urged the central government to take action against those who issued death threats in the form of 'fatwa'. Speaking to Rajat Sharma on his TV show
Aap Ki Adalat, Sonu Nigam said: "I have full faith in God, who is omnipresent and all-pervading. But I don't like this mentality, when any one issues fatwa against any other person, saying cut off his hair, kill him. There was a fatwa... for cutting off my head. In my view, the government must do something about this."
Sonu Nigam added: "We live in a civilised and democratic country. We are a republic. How can we allow such things like fatwa? I am also against lynching of people by Gau Rakshaks. I am totally against them."
On April 16, Sonu Nigam complained about the morning azaan on Twitter, calling it 'gundagardi' and 'forced religiousness.' After he was trolled by many for his anti-Muslim posts, the singer tweeted: "Dear everyone. Your stand exposes your own IQ. I stand by my statement that loudspeakers should not be allowed in Mosques & Temples. Period."
Four days after his tweets, Sonu Nigam shaved his head in defiance of a 'fatwa' issued against him by Syed Sha Atef Ali Al Quaderi of West Bengal Minority Council. Mr Quaderi had offered to pay Rs 10 lakh as a reward to have the singer go bald and garland him with shoes. However, he refused to pay the amount to the singer saying he didn't abide by all conditions.
"I don't like gundagardi (hooliganism) in any form. You can't go in a group of 12 people and threaten a family in the name of religion. Such things should not happen in our country. We are all doing well, actually. We are doing very well these days. This is not a political statement, but I believe '
Achhe din aa rahe hain' (good days are coming)," IANS quoted Sonu Nigam as saying on
Aap Ki Adalat.
On being questioned whether he would like to settle abroad, Sonu Nigam said that he considers India his home. "Yes, sometimes I did feel that I should go away, but then there's no country in the world where you would find 100 per cent things okay, there are shortcomings everywhere," he said.
(With IANS inputs)