“Every Friday, we used to get an hour or two for prayer. It was since 1936, around 90 years have passed… A lot of governments and CMs came but they did not have any problem… But we don’t know what problem the current CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has,” AIUDF MLA Mazibur Rahman said.
“We will not remain in the Assembly at that time(Namaz)…You cannot stop us from offering Namaz. We can do that inside (the Assembly) also. People are getting angry with you. You are trying to incite but one day you will worry about how you fell,” he added.
Accusing him of “trying to wipe out Muslims‘, Mazibur Rahman recounted the recent efforts by Himanta including the Muslim Marriage Act.
“You are trying to remove polygamy. You also removed Muslim marriage and divorce. How much will you harass the Muslims?… You are the CM today but soon 5 years will pass. You should think about the next one… You should see everyone equally. The whole nation is watching you and the people are hating you now,” he said.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav also reacted to this and said that the BJP has made Muslims a soft target.
“Assam’s CM is doing this for cheap popularity. Who is he? He just wants cheap popularity. BJP has made Muslims a soft target…they want to bother Muslims in some way or the other and spread hatred in the society. BJP should understand that even Muslims had sacrificed their lives in the freedom struggle,” Tejashwi Yadav said.
Calling his decision anti-national, CPI (M) Leader Hannan Mollah said, “This is a heinous decision…Himanta is the most heinous minority hater. Whenever he opens his mouth, he spits venom against the minority. This is dangerous to the country and this mindset is anti-national. This mindset is against the unity of the country…this is part of a conspiracy to finish off minority community.”
Earlier in the day, the Assam CM said that the state assembly had decided to abolish Jumma break in an attempt to remove “colonial burden” from the state.
“In order to increase the productivity of the Assam Legislative Assembly and to remove the colonial burden from the state, the rule of adjourning the House for 2 hours every Friday for Jumme was abolished. This practice was started by Syed Saadullah of the Muslim League in 1937,” he said.