Dropping of Martyr's Day, Sheikh Abdullah's birthday from J&K's public holiday list disgraceful: CPI(M)

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The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the CPI(M) on Saturday said the dropping of Martyrs' Day and ex-chief minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah's birth anniversary from the list of public holidays for 2020 is disgraceful and such methods are bound to alienate the administration from the people. "One fails to understand what the administration intends to achieve out of this absurd order," senior CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami told PTI.

According to the order issued by the administration late Friday night, a total of 27 public holidays will be observed throughout the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in 2020, compared to 28 in the previous calendar year.

Two public holidays -- Martyrs' Day observed on July 13 and the birth anniversary of Abdullah on December 5 -- have been dropped from the list of holidays, but October 26 figures in the list as the Accession Day.

"As long as July 13 is concerned, it has been a historic movement; a people's movement for democratic rights and against tyranny. This day is a historic day and omitting it from the holiday list is disgraceful and an insult to those who have laid down their lives for the better future of Jammu and Kashmir," Tarigami said.

He also expressed his resentment against the dropping of Abdullah's birth anniversary from the list of holidays and said "he has been a towering and a well-known personality and a freedom fighter".

"I am sure that such methods can only alienate the administration from the people," Tarigami said, adding the history cannot be reversed.