Have national policy on loudspeakers: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut tells Centre

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut has asked the Centre to form a national policy on the use of loudspeakers at religious public and other places and implement it first in BJPruled states The Maharashtra government will also abide by the Centrersquos directives over the national policy he said on WednesdayThe demand comes in the wake of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS President Raj Thackerayrsquos ultimatum to the state government to remove loudspeakers from mosques before May 3 failing which his party will blare Hanuman Chalisa when Muslims pray five times a dayldquoI appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to frame a national policy on the use of loudspeakers The policyrsquos implementation should begin from states like Bihar Delhi and Gujaratrdquo Raut said adding that the Bharatiya Janata Partyrsquos BJP people were responsible for creating a row though loudspeakers still remain at mosques in Gujarat and Uttar PradeshRaut wondered whether the BJPrsquos members would behave on this issue in the manner that it has exempted certain states from a policy on cow slaughter banRaj Thackeray wants the state government to remove loudspeakers from mosques File picAshish RanelsquoAllparty views to be soughtrsquoThe Maharashtra government has also initiated a process to form uniform guidelines for the use of loudspeakers The police department is working on it Home Minister Dilip WalsePatil said views of all political parties will be sought before finalisingthe guidelines Patil said on Wednesday that an allparty meeting will be held by the government and leaders including Raj Thackeray will be invited among others from the OppositionOpposition to Raj rallySome political parties and social organisations have appealed to the local police and the state government to not allow Raj Thackerayrsquos public rally in communally sensitive Aurangabad on May 1 which is Maharashtra DayThe minority cell of the Nationalist Congress Party Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi RPI Kharat All India Panther Sanghatana Prahar Janshakti Paksh Maulana Azad Vichar Manch Gabbar Action Sanghatana and other organisations have appealed to the administration to withdraw permission if any granted to the MNS organisers who have a booked a public ground in the cityVanchit Bahujan Aghadi has reminded that the local police had refused permission in March this year to felicitate Muskan a girl student from Karnataka who defied male counterparts who had opposed the use of hijab in the schoolSources said the police have not granted MNS permission yet In the previous incident in January 2011 police had allowed the party to hold a public rally merely four hours before the scheduled time Thackeray has addressed two ralliesmdashin Mumbai and Thane early this monthmdashin which he announced the agitation against the use of loudspeakers at mosques He calls it a social issue instead of a religious oneInstall CCTVs in mosquesAfter demanding the removal of loudspeakers the MNS wants mosques to install CCTV cameras on their premises Party leader Bala Nandgaonkar asked if other religious sites and places of worship have CCTV camera network and said then mosques should also have them installed Nandgaonkar said the measure will help check any wrongdoings He demaned that the state release the guidelines for this