Fading colour

New Delhi, Jan. 9: The Centre has dropped Holi and Janmashtami as compulsory holidays for its employees this year.

The ministry of personnel’s list of gazetted holidays – which it is compulsory for the government to observe – names 14, including Christmas, Id-ul Zuha, Muharram and Milad-un Nabi (Prophet Mohammad’s birth anniversary).

Holi and Janmashtami have been moved to the list of “restricted” holidays with 10 other religious festivals. The Central Government Employees Welfare Coordination Committees — each state has one — can pick any three for their state from the 12, making it 17 holidays in all.

So, whether Holi or Janmashtami is a holiday central government employees this year in a particular state will depend on what its coordination committee decides.

The saffron brigade has held this up as “further evidence” of what it sees as the government’s appeasement of Muslims at the cost of Hindus, but its outrage may not be widely shared this year. Holi falls in most of India on March 4, which is a Sunday.

But Doljatra, the corresponding festival in Bengal, falls on a Saturday, March 3 – so the coordination committee in the state will have to make a choice.

State government employees, however, do not depend on the central coordination committee’s decision. A state can declare Holi or Janmashtami a holiday for its employees.

“The government’s move is seen as yet another please-minorities policy. Holi, Dussehra and Diwali are among the most important Hindu festivals,” protests this week’s lead article in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh mouthpiece, Organiser.

“Over the years, Holi has come to represent a social rather than a religious occasion, with non-Hindus also joining in the celebrations. By taking these two festivals off the gazetted list, the government has made a statement. Now both the strictly Hindu festivals and the Muslim festivals are even in number.”