Assam assembly amends rule for Friday namaaz break, aligns timing with other days

The Assam assembly amended a rule that provided for a two-hour adjournment of the house on Fridays for Muslim members to offer namaaz.

The house on Friday adopted a motion to amend this rule. Timing of assembly proceedings will now be the same on Fridays and other days.

Until now, the sitting of the assembly on Fridays was adjourned at 11 am to facilitate Muslim members to go for namaaz, with the proceedings resuming after lunch. There was no adjournment for religious purposes on other days.


Speaker Biswajit Daimary, in view of the secular nature of the Constitution, proposed that the Assam assembly conduct its proceedings on Fridays like any other day without any adjournment, according to a statement from the assembly.

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 committee unanimously agreed to drop this rule.

"By doing away with the 2-hour Jumma break, @AssamAssembly has prioritised productivity and shed another vestige of colonial baggage" chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X. This practice was introduced by Muslim League's Syed Saadulla in 1937, he said.