Amending its earlier order, the state government has converted the restricted holiday on Chhath Puja to a public holiday on November 13 in the state. This decision of the state government has elicited questions since Chhatt Puja is commemorated mainly in the plains and not in the mountainous districts.
The amendment made by the government is being seen in connection with the urban local body elections as citizens hailing from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh constitute a sizeable chunk of voters in some of the urban areas in the plains.
This is also the reason why BJP Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari is being brought to campaign for the local body polls in Dehradun district.
Though Tiwari, who hails from Bihar is popular among the Biharis and Purvanchalis for the songs he sang before entering full time politics, he is hardly known among the natives of Uttarakhand.
Shortly after information about November 13 being declared a public holiday—except for banks, treasury and sub-treasuries—was made public on Monday, the social media was abuzz with comments questioning the purpose behind declaring the occasion a public holiday in a state where it was not even commemorated in the mountainous regions that constitute most of the state.
Some questioned why occasions not part of the native culture were being declared public holidays while native festivals were being ignored. Others pointed out that this was done in view of the local body elections.
