Attacking the Bihar Government’s move to reduce the festival holidays from 23 to 11 during September-December in government schools, the BJP on Wednesday described the move as “politics of appeasement” and against the interests of the majority community.

Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Modi alleged that the State Government had shown their “anti-Hindu identity”. “By cancelling and reducing the festive holiday of Raksha Bandhan, Teez, Juitiya, Diwali and Chhath proves their anti-Hindu identity. Why the holidays of Raksha Bandhan and several other festivals have been cancelled? Let the holidays of Muslims like Chehlum and Muhammad Prophet’s birthday continue. I have no objection but what government wants to prove by cutting the holidays of Hindu festivals like Chhath and Diwali? I demand that the anti-Hindu circular should be rolled back immediately,”   Modi said.

A Bihar government’s  Education Department notification has  said that to enhance the quality of the education in the schools, the number of holidays was being reduced as per the Right to Education Act 2009 between September and December 2023.  The holidays for Raksha Bandhan, Teej, Jiutiya, Vishwakarma Puja, Janmashtami, and Guru Nanak Jayanti have been cancelled as well. For Durga Puja, the earlier six-day holiday has been reduced to three.

The department says in the notification that it is necessary to have at least 200 working days in primary schools and 220 days in middle schools but due to elections, examinations, festivals and natural calamities, studies are affected.

BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh posted  on X , “Holidays of Durga Puja, Diwali and Chhath Puja have been cancelled by the education department of Bihar government. Tomorrow it is possible that Sharia will be implemented in Bihar and there will be a ban on celebrating Hindu festivals.”Bihar BJP State president Samrat Choudhary termed the decision “politics of appeasement”.

“The Nitish Kumar government has taken an unfortunate decision by reducing the festival holidays. Both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad are engaged in the politics of appeasement. To achieve the goal of becoming the Prime Minister of India, Nitish Kumar has reached on the pinnacle of doing politics of appeasement,” Choudhary alleged.

As the Lok Sabha polls close by, the BJP and the  state ruling combine of JDU-RJD  are fighting for the respective electoral turn in Bihar with 40 seats.