‘Time’, ‘people of other religions…’: Why Assam assembly did away with 3-hour break that allowed for Friday prayers

Rule 11 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assam Legislative Assembly stated: “The House shall ordinarily commence from 9:30 am to 2 pm on all weekdays except Fridays and Saturday. On Friday, the House shall sit from 9:30 am to 11:30 am and 3 pm to 5 pm.”

With the amendment approved by the Assembly on Friday, from next session onwards, the House will sit for the same hours on Friday as the rest of the week.

Speaking to reporters, Speaker Biswajit Daimary said this was a provision unique to the Assam Legislative Assembly introduced during the premiership of Muhammad Saadullah in pre-Independence Assam.

“In the Assam legislative assembly, it had become like a tradition from the time of the British during Saadullah saab’s Chief Ministership. At that time, Bangladesh was with Assam and the capital was in Shillong. Maybe then there were many members who were followers of the Islamic religion and they brought this proposal… Since I’ve become Speaker, I’ve noticed that on Friday, when there’s some important matters to discuss, it becomes very difficult for time. The other thing is that in today’s day and age, everybody is very conscious about their rights. People of other religions have also sometimes started saying that we should also get some time for prayers… I took information from all the legislative assemblies and found that no assembly adjourns the house for any religion or prayer. Even in the Parliament, there is no such rule,” he said.

He said that the proposal to amend this rule was presented before the Rules Committee, which is headed by him, and the committee unanimously agreed. The motion for the amendment had been introduced in the Assembly on August 28 and was passed on Friday.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on social media: “By doing away with the two-hour Jumma break, the Assam Assembly 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 Biswajit Daimary dangoriya and our legislators for this historical decision.”

While the amendment was not protested in the house, Dhing MLA from AIUDF Aminul Islam, who is also a part of the Rules Committee, claimed that the Speaker had told members that he was facing pressure from BJP members.

“Apart from Jammu and Kashmir, the highest number of Muslim MLAs is in Assam. So if there’s no break and if they all go to do jumma namaz during that time, a lot of work of the assembly where their participation is involved, they will be absent. That’s why it was given. Friday is for private members’ business, so different MLAs’ names keep coming up for participation. We had wanted all this to be discussed,” he told reporters.

CPI(M) leader from West Bengal, Hannan Mollah, called it a “heinous decision”. He was quoted by ANI as saying, “This is dangerous to the country and the mindset is anti-national. This mindset is against the unity of the country.”