Assam assembly abolishes pre-Independence Friday 'namaz' break

Guwahati, Aug 30 (PTI) The Assam assembly will discontinue with the two-hour break provided on Fridays to facilitate Muslim legislators to offer 'namaz', Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The rule will be implemented from the next session, the state’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister said.

In a post on X, Sarma said, "By doing away with the 2-hour Jumma break, @AssamAssembly has prioritised productivity and shed another vestige of colonial baggage. This practice was introduced by Muslim League's Syed Saadulla in 1937." "My gratitude to Hon'ble Speaker Shri @BiswajitDaimar5 dangoriya and our legislators for this historical decision," he said.

For the last time, this break was provided on Friday, the final day of the autumn session of the assembly.

A statement from the Speaker’s office said the House used to resume proceedings after lunch on Fridays, after the Muslim members came back from ‘namaz’.

On all other days, the House conducted business without any such adjournment for religious purposes, it said.

Speaker Biswajit Daimary, taking note of the matter and “in view of the secular nature of the Constitution, proposed that the Assam Legislative Assembly must conduct its proceedings on Fridays like any other day”.

The proposal to do away with this provision in the Rules of Procedures of the assembly was placed before the Rules Committee, headed by the Speaker, which unanimously agreed to drop the practice.

"Accordingly, today, the House adopted a motion to amend this rule so as to provide for sitting of the House for conduct of its proceedings on Fridays like any other day," the statement said.

“So, today history has been created by doing away with this colonial practice, which was aimed at dividing the society on religious basis,” it said.

Meanwhile, opposition MLAs questioned the decision and its timing.

“There was something spoken about in the House today, but how this decision was taken I don’t know. I don’t know why has it been cancelled, and with whom this was discussed,” Congress MLA Jakir Hussain Sikdar said.

Another senior Congress MLA Wajed Ali Choudhury wondered why “suddenly the practice, in place since before Independence, was done away with”.

A ruling BJP legislator claimed that the motion for adoption of the Rule Committee’s Second Report, tabled previously, and which contained the matter of abolition of the break, was moved by opposition AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam during the first-half sitting on Friday.

It was also passed by voice vote by the House, he added. PTI