Just a day after the central government changed the status of the Pongal holidays from compulsory to restricted, the new AIADMk General Secretary urged the centre to review their decision on the same.
Sasikala Natarajan asserted that the move came as “shock” to the state and the state government. “The centre’s decision came as a huge shock. The Pongal festival, that used to be a compulsory holiday for the central government employees in Tamil Nadu, have been changed to restricted holiday,” Sasikala said in a statement.
She further said that it was the duty of the government to accept the culture of the people who have been celebrating Pongal with their families for years now.
Opposing the move, Sasikala affirmed that the central government should respect the feelings of the people and revoke their decision. She added it was due to the efforts made by the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa who passed away last month, the rights of the people of the state of Tamil Nadu were guarded.
DMK has also went on to oppose the government decision and asked them to make the Pongal holiday compulsory again.
In a sudden move, the central government on January 9 changed the status of the Pongal holidays from compulsory to restricted. Pongal is a Tamil harvest festivals. People earlier availed a compulsory off on the occasion of Pongal. However, from now on, it would be considered as a restricted holiday.
Restricted holidays basically mean only the people related to the particular festival could avail an off or a holiday on that day. The reason of the decision has not been ascertained as yet.
This year, the main Pongal day falls on January 15. The government officials usually gets 3 days off during Pongal every year.
It celebrated with great pomp and fervour in the state of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
A number of people on social media slammed the government over the move with many claiming that the move was anti-people.
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