Lucknow: Following the allocation of a namaz room on the Jharkhand Assembly premises, Samajwadi Party MLA Irfan Solanki on Tuesday (September 7) urged the Speaker to consider a similar facility in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
MLA Solanki, from Kanpur’s Sisamau constituency, said, ‘I am an MLA for the past 15 years. Many times when assembly proceedings are going on, we Muslim MLAs have to leave the assembly to offer namaz.’
‘If there is a small prayer room in the Assembly we won’t have to leave proceedings. On many occasions if you have a question in the pipeline and it is the time for ‘azaan’ (prayer call), you can either ask the question or offer namaz,’ he said. ‘Even at international airports, there is a room for ‘ibadat’ (prayer). The Assembly Speaker can consider this and its will not cause any loss to anyone,’ Solanki said.
The MLA told PTI, however, that he did not submit any such request in writing to the Speaker. Whenever asked about this, Speaker Dixit replied, ‘He (Irfan Solanki) has not given me any letter in this regard, nor any discussion was held in this regard.’
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In response to a question regarding whether a room for namaz will be set up in the event that Solanki makes a request, Dixit replied, ‘Discussions will be held with officials in this regard, and a decision as per law will be taken.’ Solanki’s demand arose amid a controversy over the Speaker’s allocation of a room for the offering of namaz in the Jharkhand Assembly building, with the BJP protesting against it.
It has been welcomed by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Congress. In a notice dated September 2 and signed by the Deputy Secretary of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly, Naveen Kumar, by order of the Speaker said, ‘Allotment of room number TW 348 as Namaz Hall for offering Namaz in the new Assembly Building.’
The opposition BJP disrupted proceedings in the Jharkhand Assembly for the second day, causing a ruckus over the issue. In addition, the party is demanding the order be recalled or else a Hanuman temple or other places of worship of other religions should be permitted on the assembly grounds. The saffron party has called on the government to immediately rescind the ‘unconstitutional and undemocratic decision’ on the namaz room.
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