Assam Assembly Ends Colonial-Era Rule of Friday Namaaz Break, Citing Secularism and Productivity

Guwahati: The Assam Assembly on Friday decided to end a British-era rule of giving a break for offering Jumma Namaaz on Fridays.

Since the creation of the Assam Legislative Assembly, the sitting of the Assembly on Friday used to be adjourned at 11 am to facilitate Muslim members to go for Jumma namaaz, or Friday prayers. The Assembly used to resume its proceedings in the post-lunch session after the Muslim members came back from the namaaz. On all other days, the House used to conduct its proceedings without any such adjournment for religious purposes.

From the next session of the Assam Legislative Assembly, there will be no break on Fridays for namaaz. However, since today was a Friday and the House was in session, it was decided that the break for namaaz will be taken for the last time, from 11.30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.

When the Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary sought the opinion of the members on whether to opt for the break for namaaz today, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pijush Hazarika opined that the House should go for a break today.

For abolishing the break time on Fridays for namaaz, the Assembly today amended the British-era rule of adjourning the House for Friday namaaz.

Meanwhile, in a statement from the Assam Legislative Assembly, “Biswajit Daimary, the Speaker took note of this 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 without any adjournment to facilitate Muslim members to go for namaaz. Accordingly, the proposal to do away with this rule in the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly was placed before the Rules Committee headed by the Speaker. The Rules Committee unanimously agreed to drop this rule. 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. So, today history has been created by doing away with this colonial practice, which was aimed at dividing society on a religious basis.”

After the House adjourned sine die, several MLAs from the Congress and AIUDF expressed dissatisfaction over the abolition of the British-era rule of adjournment for Friday namaaz. Congress MLA Wazed Ali Choudhury said, “We are saddened by the new rule. The provision of break time for Friday namaaz was present in the Assam Assembly since before the time of India’s independence.”

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on X, “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 the Muslim League’s Syed Saadulla in 1937. My gratitude to Hon’ble Speaker Shri @BiswajitDaimary dangoriya and our legislators for this historical decision.”

Usually, the Assam Assembly starts at 9.30 a.m. from Monday to Thursday, and on Friday, it begins at 9 a.m. to give the two-hour break for namaaz.

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