The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh has announced that schools in the state will not be closed for Christmas on Thursday, but will remain open to commemorate the birth centenary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Maktoob Media reported on Wednesday.
An order issued by the state Basic Education Department stated that attendance for students would be mandatory on Thursday. It also directed schools to organise speeches, cultural programmes and remembrance activities to honour Vajpayee.
The order applies to government primary and upper primary schools in the state and coincides with the conclusion of the official birth centenary year celebrations of the BJP leader.
The decision reportedly came amid demands made by the Hindutva group Bajrang Dal in Saharanpur district to celebrate December 25 as “Bal Gaurav [child pride] and Good Governance Day” instead of Christmas, Maktoob Media reported.
Good Governance Day, started in 2014 by the then newly elected Union government led by Narendra Modi, is observed on December 25 every year to commemorate Vajpayee’s birth anniversary.
In a memorandum, the Hindutva group called for action against schools that observed Christmas and urged the state Basic Education Department to issue directives preventing celebrations for the festival, according to Maktoob Media.
It claimed that students should be taught about “Indian values” and that schools must organise poetry recitations featuring Vajpayee’s poems, speeches and essay competitions instead of Christmas activities.
December 25 should honour the birth anniversaries of educationist Madan Mohan Malaviya and Vajpayee rather than mark the birth of Jesus Christ, it added.
The decision not to observe a holiday for Christmas has drawn criticism, with Christian organisations and activists saying that the cancellation marginalises the community and undermines the secular fabric of public education, according to Maktoob Media.
John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council and a member of the National Integration Council, told the news portal that the directive to replace the traditional holiday with commemorative programmes was a “deliberate targeting of the most sacred day in the Christian calendar”.
“The decision reflects a sustained and intensifying pattern of marginalisation of the Christian community under the current regime,” Maktoob Media quoted Dayal as saying. He added that the normalisation of such rhetoric had created an atmosphere of fear.
Nihal Nazim, a teacher at a government school in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district, said that “official calendars in schools must balance national commemorations with respect for diverse cultural and religious traditions”.
The direction on the cancellation of the holiday in Uttar Pradesh comes days after the Kerala government flagged reports of schools in the state halting Christmas celebrations due to alleged pressure from Hindutva organisations linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
The RSS is the parent organisation of the ruling BJP at the Centre.
On Sunday, the Kerala government warned that schools would not be allowed to be turned into “communal laboratories”. It also added that an “urgent inquiry” had been ordered.
Education Minister V Sivankutty said that the state government will resist pressure to create division along religious lines. The minister accused the RSS and its affiliates of seeking to expel the religious practices and celebrations of Christian and Muslim minorities from the state’s cultural life.
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