In a fresh attempt to appease the Muslim community in Uttar Pradesh, the state government declared a holiday on Friday to mark the annual Urs at the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer.
The holiday in Uttar Pradesh, on this occasion, has little justification since the Urs is held in Rajasthan and not in UP.
Interestingly, Rajasthan, where the shrine is situated, observes only two local holidays for the Urs in Ajmer.
The Ajmer DM has declared a two-day holiday for Urs but it is not applicable to entire Rajasthan.
The Akhilesh Yadav government, incidentally, has been happily indulging in the politics of holidays ever since it came to power in 2012.
The chief minister has scrapped three public holidays announced by his predecessor, Mayawati. These include the birth anniversary of late Kanshi Ram on March 15, his death anniversary on October 9 and the death anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar on December 6.
All these occasions had been declared holidays by the Mayawati regime in honour of the dalit icons.
However, the chief minister has also added three new holidays to the ever-growing list of holidays in UP. These include Valmiki Jayanti on October 29, Nishadraj Jayanti on April 5 and now the Ajmer Urs on May 17.
The Maharaja Nishadraj Jayanti is not celebrated as a holiday in any part of the country, not even in coastal regions where the boatmen community lives in large numbers.
The chief minister, according to sources, is also likely to announce a public holiday on the Maharana Pratap Jayanti on May 9 from next year. This is being done to assuage the feelings of the Thakur community that has been rather upset with the Samajwadi Party in recent months.