Nitish Kumar’s JDU and Chirag Paswan’s LJP, two of the major allies of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), have expressed disagreement with the statement of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Both the parties have criticized the decision of the state assembly to stop the two-hour recess given to Muslim MLAs on Fridays to offer Namaz. At the same time, CM Sarma defended the decision, saying that it has been taken with the consensus of Hindu and Muslim MLAs.
JDU functionary Neeraj Kumar criticised the Assam government’s decision to end the practice of two-hour adjournments for Jumma ki namaz in the assembly. He said Sarma should focus on issues like poverty alleviation and flood prevention. He said, “The decision taken by the Assam chief minister is against the basic principles of the country’s constitution. Every religious faith has the right to preserve its traditions. I want to ask CM Sarma that you are banning Friday holidays during Ramzan and claiming that it will increase work efficiency. An important part of the Hindu tradition is the Maa Kamakhya temple. Can you ban the practice of sacrifice there?”
However, Sarma defended the decision, saying, “Hindu and Muslim MLAs of our assembly sat in the rules committee and unanimously decided that a two-hour break is not right. We should work during this time as well. This practice started in 1937 and has been stopped from yesterday.”
At the same time, senior JDU official KC Tyagi said that the preamble of the Constitution provides for freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. He said that no one should do anything that hurts the spirit of the Constitution and the religious sentiments of the people.
LJP Delhi president Raju Tiwari also objected to the Assam government’s decision and suggested that freedom of religious practices should be respected. Both Bihar allies had recently questioned the Centre’s move to introduce lateral entry without following quota provisions following which the decision was withdrawn.