Sonu Nigam Shaves Off His Head In Response To Fatwa

Mumbai: Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam shaved off his head on Wednesday after he accepted headlong challenge by a West Bengal cleric's fatwa offering Rs.10 lakhs to shave off. He hit back tweeting, "Today at 2pm, Aalim will come to my place and shave my head. Keep your 10 lakhs ready Maulvi."

The singer addressed a media conference at his residence where police had beefed up security after his tweets raked up a huge ruckus.

He appeared before the media with a clean-shaven pate, wearing spectacles and smiling away happily even as various Muslim groups and organizations protested and contemplated moving the courts against him. He said, "All I wanted was to be considerate with each other like all the big countries in the world. Everyone has right to opinion. My opinion is that in temple masjid, gurudwara, loud speakers are not religious necessities. It is not part of a religion, going on from years. When loudspeakers are installed in religious places, it is sort of a declaration that 'this is my religion'.

"Same goes for people dancing on roads drunk during religious processions. I am against that. I am very secular, I am not right or left wing. I stand in between. Most are right and left wing people but people in the middle are less. I've never had to make a speech like this. I just raised a social topic, not a religious topic," he added.

On Monday, a controversy erupted when Nigam lashed out as "forced religiousness" in India after being woken up the 'azaan' (Muslim calls for prayer) from a mosque near his home.