TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The state government, falling in line with the Centre in its bid to rearrange the holiday schedule in the state, has deleted the Gandhi Jayanti holiday from its list of commercial and industrial holidays. This came to light on the day a statue of India’s father of the nation was installed in London’s Parliament Square.
October 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi was earlier a holiday but according to the released list of commercial and industrial holidays for 2015 this has been dropped.
Reacting to this independent legislator Vijai Sardesai said, “Mahatma Gandhi’s bronze statue was unveiled at Parliament Square, London today. A historic and magnificent international tribute when Arun Jaitley referred to the British sense of civility. Back home in Goa, it coincided with the BJP government deciding to cancel Gandhi Jayanti from the list of holidays. So is this nationalism or is this BJP’s sense of civility?”
Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday has been a national holiday since his death, and is now celebrated as International Day of Non-Violence. It is also a dry day.
The number ofholidays has remained the same, as the second day of Ganesh Chaturthi has been made a holiday instead of Gandhi Jayanti.
Gandhiji was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, a small town in Gujarat. He started satyagraha (non-violence) as a movement and a form of protest that triggered the collapse of the British empire and became known as the apostle of peace, inspiring great freedom fighters such as Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.
Last year, the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had issued a circular to all government departments and ministries, asking them to take an oath of Swachh Bharat on October 2. The circular says that the government offices have to be kept open on Gandhi Jayanti and the oath will be administered at 9.45 am.
It directs officials to take the oath in Mahatma Gandhi’s name to commit 100 hours per year to cleaning and prevent the dirtying of their office premises.
