SRINAGAR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has commended the government’s decision to maintain the status quo in the list of public holidays for Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (UT) in 2025, as issued by the General Administration Department, party spokesperson said.
“The decision upholds the LG Administration’s earlier resolution from December 28, 2019, which removed two holidays, July 13 and December 5, from the public holiday list in 2020. Since then, the practice has remained unchanged, and the decision has been widely welcomed across the country, as these holidays were seen as controversial and region-specific,” BJP JK Unit Spokesperson Anil Gupta said in a statement.
The restoration of these two holidays was a key promise in the election manifesto of the National Conference (NC), and following the formation of the government, several NC leaders, including the party’s general secretary, pushed for the declaration of December 5, 2024, as a public holiday.
Gupta pointed out that both holidays had sparked significant controversy. “December 5, which was not a holiday between 1948-1981, was declared a public holiday in 1982 by Dr Farooq Abdullah, in honour of his father, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, on the anniversary of his death. However, there is controversy over the actual birth date of Sheikh Abdullah, as noted by historian MY Taing, who argues that December 5 is not the Sheikh’s true birth date,” he said.
“The July 13 holiday, celebrated as Martyrs’ Day in Kashmir, has been equally contentious. While it is marked in Kashmir as a day to honour the fallen, the Hindu community in Jammu, particularly the Kashmiri Pandits, observe it as a Black Day to protest the destruction of their properties and threats to their lives. The holiday, according to Brig Gupta, deepens the regional, religious, and ideological divides, a divide that has only worsened due to the policies of Kashmir-based political parties, the statement adds.
In response to NC’s criticism, where the exclusion of these holidays was labelled as a “disregard to Kashmir’s history and democratic struggle,” Gupta said that Jammu and Kashmir are one entity, and the government must be just to both regions. He called for the NC to move away from its “exclusive” politics and recognise the importance of Dogra heritage and sentiments.
