Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 10: The former Union Minister Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta has sought a review in the long list of State holidays and also to have a look into the naming of historic places with controversial names causing tensions.
Commenting upon the growing demand for more and more holidays Prof. Gupta said that great men should be remembered and their good works be highlighted at official and public level in a planned manner instead of just closing offices and putting the official works to a halt. The purpose should be to carry forward their mission.
Moreover, some holidays are generating more heat than light and avoidable tensions, he added and particularly referred to the observance of July 13th, as a Martyrs’ Day and pointed out that many call it a Black Day or even Holocaust one, as the sad happenings had given birth to spread communal virus leading radicalization and deep rooted tensions.
Prof. Gupta said that there are some holidays which carry just regional importance but the State as a whole is little interested. This should also be taken into account while preparing the Calendar.
More than this, Prof. Gupta said that ill-designed moves are there at work, especially in the troubled Valley of Kashmir where some controversial characters are changing the names of certain historic places to give communal colour. He stressed for snubbing such unhealthy trends though roots of such a theocratic thinking are linked with Jehadi culture across the border where names of many historic places, even in Pak-occupied areas of the State, have been changed to boost radicalism.
In his statement Prof. Gupta also demanded that some important projects and places should be named after the great Dogra leader, Pt. Prem Nath Dogra who had served the State as also the country as a great patriot and struggled hard to get demolished several barriers between this State and rest of India.
He said that measures should be evolved to check the tendencies leading to violence and destructive trends which of course are the part of the designs of enemy and their agents operating in various guises.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel