Scrapping of holidays will help UP govt earn ₹50-60k cr more: Yogi

SPEAKING AT THE RSS WORKERS’ MEETING, YOGI SAID IT WAS UNFORTUNATE THAT NATIONAL SONG VANDE MATARAM WAS GIVEN A COMMUNAL COLOUR

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said his government’s decision to scrap holidays — observed on the anniversaries of eminent personalities in the state — will help it earn an additional revenue of ₹50,000-60,000 crore as public offices will work for 15 more days in a year.

Speaking at a meeting of the RSS workers and its affiliated organisations at Madhav Dham in Gorakhpur where the RSS felicitated him, he said the additional funds will be used in the development of the state and help create new employment opportunities for the youth.

“We have asked the administration to issue a government order to schools and colleges asking them to initiate a tradition of holding 15-minute lectures on the birth or death anniversaries of great personalities, saints and others,” he added.

He said it was unfortunate that the singing of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ was given a communal colour.

“What a fateful day it was when singing of the national song was made optional rather than compulsory,” the chief minister said.

The chief minister credited the RSS’s Vidya Bharti for keeping alive the tradition of singing Vande Mataram. He said the national song would have vanished if it were not sung at Sangh schools.

Exhorting people to contribute to saving cows and making the holy river Ganga clean, he said, “Only chanting gau mata ki jai wont’t be enough until you contribute honestly at your personal level to save them .Similarly, chanting Ganga mata ki jai will not help keep the holy river clean."

Adityanath said encephalitis , an annual killer in east UP, could be controlled easily if people started keeping their surroundings clean and used pure drinking water. He urged them to become a part of cleanliness campaign launched by the Prime Minister.