The dropping of the Gandhi Jayanti holiday from the list of commercial and industrial holidays has taken a serious turn. It was one thing when the Opposition pointed out that October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, had been dropped from this list of holidays in Goa. It created big news and the issue also gave rise to some national outrage with the Congress at the national level accusing the BJP of insulting the Father of the Nation. The issue was first brought up by the Congress in Goa, before the parent organization took it up in Delhi. With BJP governments in Goa and the Centre, the Congress jumped at the opportunity to point an accusing finger at the party.
The issue might have created a big ruckus had the State government defended dropping the holiday. But the government didn’t defend this, it didn’t even own up to dropping the holiday. The government took the line that the holiday had never been dropped and that it not featuring in the list of commercial and industrial holidays could have been an act of mischief or a typo.
That reasoning stands to be questioned.
In the list of commercial and industrial holidays for 2015 released in 2014, the total number of holidays for the year 2015, when compared to that of 2014 have remained the same, though the Gandhi Jayanti holiday did not feature for this year. What kept the number of holidays at eight was a holiday not given in 2014, which is the second day of Ganesh Chaturthi. This holiday was given this year and so made up the number of holidays to eight. That being so, it becomes difficult to accept the explanation of the missing Gandhi Jayanti holiday as a possible typo. Besides this holiday, the other seven commercial and industrial holidays are Republic Day, Ambedkar Jayanti, May Day, Independence Day, Ganesh Chaturthi (first day), Liberation Day and Christmas. And though the government insists that it was a mistake, when the eighth holiday is awarded to make up the number it is definitely not a typo.
Which leaves mischief as suggested by the government and makes this even more serious, for if it is mischief, then the government has to investigate and nail the person who played this mischief. Given that there is a long process from the list of holidays been made till its notification, the mischief could have been played out at any level. Given that the list of holidays is a gazette notification it assumes significant seriousness. One cannot make changes in a gazette notification without authorization and get away with it. This issue, of mischief played in gazette notifications, has to be tackled immediately. If changes can be done with a list of holidays, then they can be done with other notifications. If mistakes can be done then also these have to be probed into and the chief minister’s refusal to initiate a probe could lead to further laxity on the part of the staff involved.
There is another angle to the entire issue. October 2 is also a dry day in Goa, where no alcohol is served in public places. Last year following some protests the government was forced to order the closing of the offshore casinos on this day. The order to close the casinos had come at the eleventh hour causing a major loss to the industry. There are allegations that to pre-empt any such closure this year too, the casino lobby prevailed upon the government to cancel the holiday totally.
This is not the first time this particular holiday is coming under the scanner in the State. Gandhi Jayanti has traditionally been a holiday in India and Goa, though in 2001 the government, also of the BJP at that time, had attempted to do away with the holiday, but had later retracted this. The government had at that time made it compulsory for government staffers to come to office on October 2 and get involved in cleaning up the offices. In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Swaach Bharat mission on Gandhi Jayanti.
The importance of Gandhi Jayanti then cannot be diluted and the government must clarify how the mistake happened or how the mischief occurred.
