Assam Assembly Scraps Friday Jumma Prayer Break, CM Himanta Says 'Shed Another Colonial Baggage'

The Assam Assembly has scrapped the Jumma break for Muslim MLAs and officials. CM Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the practice, introduced in 1937, was a colonial legacy and is now discontinued.

The Assam Assembly has abolished the two-hour jumma break previously granted for Muslim MLAs and officials for prayers. Reacting to the development, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the jumma break was a vestige of Assam's colonial legacy and it has been done away with now.

He said that the practice was introduced by Muslim League’s Syed Saadulla in 1937. He also said that the move would increase productivity.

The jumma break was granted to enable Muslim officials and MLAs to offer their Friday namaz. 

The move comes just a day after the Assam Assembly passed a bill to scrap the practice of qazi-registered Muslim marriages. Once the bill receives the Governor's assent, all marriages, including those within the Muslim community, would have to be registered by the government. CM Himanta said that it was aimed towards abolishing child marriage.

Refuting claims of the Assam government bringing in "anti-Muslim" laws, CM Himanta said in the Assembly on Friday that the laws his Cabinet proposes are apolitical and secular. "The laws we bring are truly secular as they apply to every section of society. Gopinath Bordoloi was a Congress leader who did not let Assam go to Pakistan. But on his death anniversary, no Congress leader comes to his memorial," CM Himanta said.

He said: "We have no qualms with the Christian or Assamese Muslim communities..."

The Assam Assembly also passed the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2024, on Thursday. Once it becomes a law, the act would restrict land transactions within a 5 km radius of heritage sites to people who have lived in the area for at least three generations.