Politics over prayer in Assam Premium

Assam’s decision to abolish the Jumma break seems to have no rationale.

The Assam Legislative Assembly recently decided to discontinue the British-era practice of providing a two-hour break for Jumma prayers on Fridays. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma said the decision was made unanimously by both Hindu and Muslim MLAs.

The practice has been prevalent in the Assembly since 1937, when it was introduced by the Muslim League’s Syed Saadulla. The sudden move to abolish it has predictably led to heated debates. What is the rationale for this move? Has the proportion of Muslim MLAs in the Assam Assembly reduced, which led to a re-examination of this practice? Or do fewer Muslims offer namaaz on Fridays? Let us examine these two questions.

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In the current Assembly, of a total of 126 MLAs, 31 are Muslim. The numbers have not changed significantly over the years. The 2016 and 2011 Assemblies had 28 Muslims MLAs each, while the 2006 Assembly had 25 Muslim MLAs, who mostly belonged to the Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). All the Muslim MLAs in the last four Assemblies belonged to parties apart from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). There was only one exception: Aminul Haque Laskar, who got elected on a BJP ticket from the Bengali-dominated Sonai Assembly constituency. He too later switched to the Congress. Thus, the change in rules will hurt the Muslim MLAs, who all belong to non-BJP parties.

Surveys conducted by Lokniti indicate that there has hardly been any decline in the levels of religiosity among Indian Muslims. The practice of offering namaaz every day is widely prevalent. According to the survey, in 2014, 59% of Muslims said that they offered namaaz daily, while another 27% said that they did so weekly. Another 10% said that they offered namaaz only during festivals. This means that 86% of Muslims offer namaaz on a regular basis.

A survey conducted in 2024 showed that the proportion of Muslims offering namaaz every day increased to 63%. Another 22% said they offer namaaz on Fridays and yet another 7% said that they do so only during festivals. The share of Muslims who offer namaaz daily has increased in the last 10 years. Thus, these surveys show that there has been no significant change in the levels of religiosity among Indian Muslims. That is, there is hardly any change in the frequency of offering namaaz.

Therefore, neither of these two possible explanations seems to hold ground. So, why was this long-standing practice been changed? The Chief Minister said that the move “prioritises productivity” and sheds India’s “colonial baggage”. He argued that it was taken in view of the “secular nature of the Constitution”.