All central government offices will remain closed for half a day on January 22 on the occasion of the Ram temple consecration ceremony to be held in Ayodhya, an office memorandum issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) stated.
“The Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha at Ayodhya will be celebrated on 22nd January, 2024 across India. To enable employees to participate in the celebrations, it has been decided that all Central Government Offices, Central Institutions and Central Industrial Establishments throughout India will be closed for half day till 1430 hours on 22nd January, 2024,” the notice reads.
Several critics of Narendra Modi called out the move.
“Eid Milad un Nabi holiday was cancelled by a BJP state govt. A constitutional authority did away with a 30-min break on Fridays for namaz,” Asaduddin Owaisi posted on X.
“This is “Development for all appeasement for none (except majority)””
He was referring to the announcement by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in 2017 when he cancelled 15 public holidays. Among the list of holidays that were cancelled was Eid Milad-un-Nabi, which is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Prophet Muhammad.
Journalist Anusha Ravi Sood wrote: A country that forced its school-going Muslim girls to approach courts to wear hijab over their uniforms, pushing them to choose between hijab & education is giving government employees half day leave to “participate in celebrations” of a Hindu temple’s consecration.
