A day after Assam Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the government would take stern action against madrasas that are closed on Fridays, he clarified, saying that he only meant that all schools should be closed on Sundays and not Fridays, ANI reported.

Sarma on Monday had said that madrasas remaining closed on Fridays is against the law and that the government will not hesitate in suspending headmasters of such institutions if the practice was not given up immediately. “Madrasas remain closed on Fridays in Pakistan and Bangladesh, not in India. In our country Sunday is the uniform weekly off for people of all faiths. Madrasas too have to remain closed only on Sundays,” he was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

On Tuesday, Sarma told ANI, “I just said that all the schools should be closed on Sunday and not on Friday.”

Former Congress minister Siddique Ahmed criticised the Assam leader and said that there was a communally divisive agenda behind Sarma’s comments, reported The Times of India.