A day after OpIndia reported about a mall in Chennai, Marina Mall, played azaan calls five times a day every day, the mall has now justified the same by saying that the call to pray is being played every day as they also celebrate Christmas and Pongal, the festivals which fall once a year.
Hello, everyone. We wanted to step in and clarify that what is being heard here is a call to pray. We do this, as do we celebrate Christmas, Diwali and Pongal. We respect the secularity of this beautiful place we call home and request you to be mindful of the same. Jai Hind!
— Marina Mall (@Marina_Chennai) January 27, 2020
In a tweet to journalist Suraj Pandey, Marina Mall said “Hello, everyone. We wanted to step in and clarify that what is being heard here is a call to pray. We do this, as do we celebrate Christmas, Diwali and Pongal. We respect the secularity of this beautiful place we call home and request you to be mindful of the same. Jai Hind!”
Sanjay Pandey, a journalist who has been associated with FirstPost and Reuters in the past, on Sunday shared a short video on Twitter where the Azaan can be heard playing in the background. He said that the Azaan was being played through the internal sound system of the Marina Mall where the video was recorded. He noted that the mall’s usual music resumed after the Azaan was completed.
While the festivals Marina Mall claims it celebrates, Christmas, Diwali and Pongal occur once a year, azaan, which is a call to pray and not a festival, is called five times a day every day. A logical equivalent to the azaan call would be hymns or even bhajans.
