Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNews ReportsCongress govt in Uttarakhand gives special break to Muslim employees for Friday prayers

Congress govt in Uttarakhand gives special break to Muslim employees for Friday prayers

The Uttarakhand government on Saturday announced its decision to provide a 90 minutes break for its Muslim employees, so that they are be able to attend the Friday prayers. This decision was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister and Congress leader Mr Harish Rawat.

Incidentally, the announcement came a few days after the BJP government in Assam had announced that the government run Madrasas would not be allowed to observe Friday as a weekly holiday, as Sunday was the only government recognised weekly holiday.

Since Madarsas are religion specific, the Assam government’s Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that a 60 min break would be given for prayers on Friday, but Madarsa teachers won’t be allowed a special holiday on Friday because the government rules have to be the same across sections.

There have been some protests by Madarsas over this, but the Assam government has made it clear that government aided Madarsas won’t be allowed to make rules for themselves superseding government rules.

This is not for the first time that a BJP government is asking Madarsas to fall in line with government rules and regulations. Last year, the Maharashtra government had de-recognized those Madarsas that imparted only religious education and did not teach formal subjects like Maths and Science.

While the BJP governments are taking steps to bring uniformity among government run or aided institutions, the Congress government in contrast has introduced a special rule that does away with uniformity among government employees by providing special treatment based on religion.

Since the state goes to polls next year, the decision by the Congress government in Uttarakhand is being seen as a ploy to garner Muslim votes – something the party thinks can be secured by pandering to religious sentiments alone.

BJP, as expected, termed it an example of appeasement policy of Congress. The party wondered if the state government will allow similar breaks for members of the Hindu community:



While it heated up politics in the state, on Twitter, people got some opportunity to make jokes:

Ayodhra Ram Mandir special coverage by OpIndia

  Support Us  

Whether NDTV or 'The Wire', they never have to worry about funds. In name of saving democracy, they get money from various sources. We need your support to fight them. Please contribute whatever you can afford

OpIndia Staff
OpIndia Staffhttps://www.opindia.com
Staff reporter at OpIndia

Related Articles

Trending now

Recently Popular

- Advertisement -

Connect with us

255,564FansLike
665,518FollowersFollow
41,500SubscribersSubscribe