The north-eastern Indian city of Guwahati city India has proclaimed “silence zones” around all religious paces in what many say is a bid to stop mosques using loudspeakers to call Muslims to prayer.
The district administration of Guwahati, the business capital of Assam state, following state government directions, issued an official notification declaring a radius of 100 meters around all religious places, including temples, mosques and churches, to be “silent zones.”
The pro Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party is currently ruling the state with its local alliance, having won a majority in elections last year. The win is seen as historic as it is the first time for ethnically diverse Assam and the north-eastern region for the party to form a state government.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has often been accused of being biased against religious minorities in the country ever since the party swept the national polls in 2014.
Assam has 31 million people, but Hindus are about 60 percent against the national average of 80 percent. Muslims make up about 35 percent, much higher than the 15 percent national figure. Christians are a minority forming 1.1 million or 3.7 percent of the total population.
