Himanta Biswa Sarma and Tejashwi Yadav exchanged barbs over scrapping jumma break
A war of words between Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav has escalated over the Assam government's move to scrap the practice of two-hour assembly session adjournment for jumma prayers.
While Mr Sarma from the ruling BJP pointed out the decision was taken jointly by all MLAs including Hindu and Muslim leaders, Mr Yadav alleged the Assam Chief Minister's party has made Muslims soft targets to spread hate and polarise society.
What escalated the exchange between the two was Mr Yadav's post on X that took a swipe at Mr Sarma as someone who wants to "gain cheap popularity and become the Chinese version of Yogi," alluding to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The RJD leader did not indicate if he was referring to inferior quality goods from China, or the north-east region, where people have often complained of racist remarks directed towards them.
Responding to Mr Yadav's attack, Mr Sarma said, "Doing away with the two-hour jumma break was not the Chief Minister's decision, but of all Hindu and Muslim legislators. When the assembly Speaker on Friday announced it, no Muslim MLA in the house raised any protest. There are 25 Muslim MLAs in Assam assembly, out of a total 126."
The Assam Chief Minister said the proposal to do away with this provision in the rules of procedures of the assembly was placed before the rules committee, headed by the Speaker, which unanimously agreed to drop the jumma practice.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who is from the BJP, waded into the battle and attacked Mr Yadav, alleging that the RJD leader had labelled the Assam Chief Minister "a Chinese just because he is from the northeast."
"It appears that the INDI Alliance is made up of a bunch of ignorant racists who have no information about the history and geography of our country. First, it was Sam Pitroda. Now, it's Tejashwi Yadav who is being racist towards the people of northeast," Mr Singh said.
Mr Sarma also shot back at Mr Yadav, accusing him of "hypocrisy". "Tejashwi Yadav is criticising me but I want to ask him... is there any such practice in Bihar? You (Mr Yadav) should have implemented a four-hour break when you were deputy chief minister of Bihar. Practice it first before preaching," Mr Sarma said.
He added the decision was being criticised only outside Assam, while the state MLAs showed commitment to work for development.
In May 2021, a blogger from Punjab was charged by the Arunachal Pradesh government for his racial remarks against a Congress MLA. The YouTube blogger Paras Singh had in a video termed then Congress MLA Ninong Ering a "non-Indian" and claimed the "state was a part of China", sparking furore among Arunachal residents as well as people from other parts of the country. Paras Singh was arrested and brought to Arunachal Pradesh, where he said he realised his mistake and sought apology. He was granted bail and allowed to return home.