No intention to cancel Eid holiday, clarifies Rajasthan government

Jaipur: The Vasundhara Raje led Rajasthan government has clarified that Eid al-Adha will remain a holiday, and that it will not cancel the holiday of September 25, the tentative date for the festival, Eid. The government dismissed reports that alleged that it was planning to cancel the holiday for its blood donation camp to mark the birth anniversary of Jan Sangh ideologue, Deendayal Upadhyay.

The government has been facing protests from various quarters over the issue of holding 100 blood donation camps with participation of all the government and private colleges.

"The government has no intention to cancel the Eid holiday and has not taken any such decision. Diseases like dengue are spreading and blood is required. The camps will be voluntary and it is not compulsory for anyone to donate the blood," said state health minister, Rajendra Rathore.

Earlier, an order from the Commissioner of College Education said, "The government holiday on Eid is unchanged but some employees in colleges will have to be deployed in arrangements of holding the camps on September 25."

Muslim activists said that they have no objection to blood donation, but the issue was of engaging college employees in the arrangements of the camps.

"Employees will have to be engaged in arrangements of camps. There are many Muslim employees in colleges and they will not be able to celebrate the festival," said Mohammad Iqbad, Secretary of 'Forum for Democracy and Communal Amity'.

The forum on Tuesday filed a petition in the Rajasthan High Court, challenging the state government's order to hold blood donation drive. State president Sawai Singh said, "We had no choice but to approach High court. We had sought an appointment with Chief Secretary but there was no response from him."

Mr Singh alleged that the BJP government was deliberately making issues to create resentment among minorities.