Is Mumbai Really Secular ?

Date

March 29, 2008

Post by

arZan

Lawmakers may have given Mumbaikars a loud speaker deadline of 10 pm, but I guess laws are meant to be broken.

True there have been cases wherein Mumbai’s event organisers never cross the set time limit to avoid legal complications, and as is clearly evident, it’s always the minorities who would follow them.

It looks like minority communities including Catholics and Parsis among others have taken the law a little too seriously. The midnight mass, which is celebrated within the Church premises and is not at all disturbing to anyone around, has been strictly prohibited after 10 pm.

Even Parsis, who have their functions like Navroz, do not make a noise on the streets or in open spaces and create a nuisance to those around.

But then is the law only applicable to minorities? What about the Id-e-Milad and Holi celebrations, which Mumbai witnessed with jarring music or should I, simply say noise way beyond 11 pm?

Even festivals like Durga puja and Ganesh visarjans don’t seem to follow any loud speaker deadline.

What kind of legal system are we dealing with here? Is the law used to suppress minorities while the others get away by making a puppet of the law?

Original article here.

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