A statement issued by the Assembly secretariat said since the creation of the state Assembly, the sitting of the House on Fridays used to be adjourned at 11 am to facilitate the Muslim members to go for namaz. The Assembly used to resume proceedings in the post-lunch session after they had returned from namaz. On all other days, the House used to conduct its proceedings without any such adjournment for religious purposes.“Shri 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 namaz. 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 statement said.It added, “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 to conduct 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 a religious basis.”
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