Assam Assembly ends long-running practice of two-hour Jumma break, here's why

Assam Legislative Assembly today officially amended the rule providing for two-hour break Jumma break, historically observed to facilitate Muslim legislators to offer Fridays prayers.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has expressed his gratitude towards the Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary for the decision that he said has been taken to prioritise the productivity of the assembly.

"By doing away with the 2-hour Jumma break, 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 Speaker Biswajit Daimary and our legislators for this historical decision," Sarma said in a post on X.

According to the previous rule, the sitting of the Assembly on Friday used to be adjourned at 11 am to facilitate Muslim members to go for namaaz, but, as per the new rule, the Assembly will conduct its proceedings without any adjournment for religious purposes.

As per the amended rule, Assam assembly will commence its proceedings at 9:30am every day, including Fridays.

The order stated that the amendment was done to scrap the colonial practice which aimed at dividing the society on a religious basis.

As per the order, the proposal was first presented to the Rules Committee headed by Biswajit Daimary, Speaker of the Assembly, which unanimously agreed to drop this rule.

The official order reads, "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 namaaz. The Assembly used to resume its proceedings in the post-lunch session after the Muslim members had come back from the namaaz. On all other days, the House used to conduct its proceedings without any such adjournment for religious purposes.

"It further read, "Biswajit Daimary, Hon'ble 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 Hon'ble 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 the society on religious basis."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from ANI)