India, July 12 -- Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis declared on Friday that the city has been made loudspeaker-free. The police have removed 1,608 loudspeakers from religious structures in Mumbai alone. Out of these, 1,149 were used in mosques, 48 in temples, 10 in churches, four in gurudwaras and 147 in other religious establishments.

He was responding to a debate over complaints made by BJP legislators about the daily use of loudspeakers in the state and police inaction. The law is equal for all and appeasement of any community must stop, said BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar.

In his response, Fadnavis said, "Not a single religious structure has a loudspeaker in Mumbai." The government has formulated a standard operating procedure for removi...