Controversy on Nitish Kumar’s Bihar holiday calendar

New Delhi: A storm is brewing in central Bihar as the Nitish Kumar-led government faces criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the 2024 school holiday calendar. Allegations are flying, with the BJP alleging that the state government is playing a hand-picked role, cutting holidays for Hindu festivals while liberally extending holidays for Muslim festivals.

Union Minister Ashwini Choubey termed Nitish Kumar as the ‘chief of appeasement’ and claimed that the ‘anti-Hindu face’ of the government has once again been exposed. In his social media post, he accused the Bihar government of adopting a disrespectful attitude towards Sanatan traditions just for the sake of vote bank.

Battle field? The holiday calendar for 2024 was unveiled by the Bihar Education Department. Designed to comply with the mandate of 220 teaching days of the Right to Education, the calendar reveals a significant change. The days of summer holidays were increased from 20 to 30, but the controversy is about the change in festival holidays.

Suddenly: Hindu festivals like Hartalika Teej and Jitiya lose their prestigious holidays. With the new: The holidays of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha (Bakrid) have been extended by three days of celebration, reports Live Hindustan.

Firebrand BJP leader Giriraj Singh took a sarcastic quip in response to the alleged imbalance by dubbing Bihar the “Islamic Republic of Bihar”.

But what is the whole picture? This is not the first time that the government’s holiday decision has created a stir. The previous attempt, which had reduced school holidays from 22 to 8 in five months by order of August 29, faced intense opposition and was quickly withdrawn.

While the BJP highlights what they see as religious bias against Hindus, it prompts a closer look at the broader actions of the Nitish Kumar-led government. What measures have been taken to address the concerns or upliftment of the Muslim community in Bihar? To understand the nuances of this controversial issue, it is important to understand the whole story.