By: ShubhamGhosh
A civic body in the southern Indian state of Kerala has triggered a controversy after deciding to sound sirens to signal the conclusion of Ramadan fasting. The order mandated by the municipality of Changanassery town in the state’s Kottayam district has said that the sirens should be sounded at 6.39 pm local time every evening till April 21 to signal that the time of fasting has concluded, India Today reported.
The order also said that the duty to sound the sirens was given to an employee named Biju with health supervisor Sonsunder overseeing it.
It did not take much time for the order to face backlash from various quarters, including councillors of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a Christian association.
While the BJP councillors alleged that the order was passed without any discussion in the municipal council meeting, a local Hindu nationalist organisation named Hindu Aikya Vedi (Hindu Unity Platform) and the Christian association moved the state’s high court challenging the order, the India Today report added.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, another Hindu organisation, held a protest in front of the municipality in Changanassery, the report said.
Earlier, a local mosque in the town had demanded that the civic authorities sound the sirens to signal the end of the day’s fasting. A request was made in writing and it was approved by the municipal secretary.
The protesting BJP councillors later submitted a request to the chairman of the municipality seeking withdrawal of the order. An emergency council meeting was held but there, councillors of the Indian National Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) remained silent spectators, the India Today report added.
When the municipality refused to accept the BJP’s demand, its councillors walked away. The saffron party has only three members in the municipality.
A councillor from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the municipality has been following the practice of sounding sirens for the last few years to break the Ramadan fasting, the report added.
One BJP councillor said since the matter remained in the high court, let the latter take a call.
