Mathura’s Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi stops using loudspeakers, says temple trust

The Manglacharan’ aarti at the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura was not broadcast over the loudspeaker on Wednesday morning in compliance with the chief minister’s directions, the trust said

AGRA: Mathura’s Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi temple trust has stopped using loudspeakers to broadcast the prayers from Wednesday morning following chief minister Yogi Adityanath instructions, the temple trust said.

Mathura’s Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi temple trust official said use of loudspeakers was stopped from Wednesday morning.

“We have ‘Manglacharan’ aarti, from 5am to 6am every day at Sri Krishna Janambhoomi which used to be broadcast over loudspeakers installed at Bhagwat Bhawan on premises of Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi . The committee decided to enforce directions given by the chief minister recently wherein he has suggested that sound of loudspeakers should not go out of premises” said Kapil Sharma, the secretary of Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust at Mathura.

On Monday, the Yogi Adityanath government decided that everyone using loudspeakers should ensure that the sound does travel beyond the premises where it is being used and should not disturb others in the locality.

“For us, any direction issued by chief minister Yogi Adityanath is a ‘sant vachan’ (command of a saint) and thus we are bound to follow these directions, issued by the chief minister who has suggested that loudspeakers should not be used at the cost of inconvenience to others” Sharma said.

“The directions issued by chief minister were implemented on Wednesday morning and ‘Manglacharan’ aarti was held as per tradition in Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi but it was not broadcast over the loudspeaker and the voice remained within premises so as to not cause inconvenience to others’ asserted secretary of Trust.

The chief minister’s directive comes amid a raging controversy over the use of loudspeakers, particularly for azaan (call for prayers) by mosques, in several parts of the country including Uttar Pradesh.