Facing Opposition charges of misleading the Lok Sabha on observing Good Governance Day on Christmas to mark the birthday of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Union government on Wednesday cited in the House the revised circulars issued by the Human Resource Development Ministry to maintain that “there is no disrespect to Christmas.”
It was Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu who responded to the Opposition’s accusations, though Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani was present. He quoted from a letter sent by the Ministry on December 15 to all Central Universities asking them to organise events to observe Good Governance Day “in such a manner that Christmas holidays are not disturbed.”
Expressing dissatisfaction with the government’s reply, members of the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Left parties and the Nationalist Congress Party stormed out of the House.
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The letter read out by Mr. Naidu mentions an earlier “D.O. letter” of December 12 which was sent to all Central Universities asking them to organise not just a seminar but also a “competition on oratory” on December 25 and submit a compliance report to the Ministry.
Raising the issue, K.C. Venugopal (Congress) read out from the various circulars and letters sent by the Ministry last week to the nodal institutions dealing with school education, the All India Council for Technical Education and all Centrally funded technical institutes, including the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Management, directing them to organise Good Governance Day events on Christmas.
What Mr. Naidu read out was the revised letter that was issued in the wake of the controversy over eclipsing the Christmas holiday with another event. This letter does not seek a compliance report, and asks each of these institutions to wrap up Good Governance Day events before December 25.
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Drawing attention to the fact that the Ministry had initially also asked educational institutions to send photographs and video-recordings of these events as proof of compliance, Mr. Venugopal asked: “How can you send photographs and videos without holding events in school?”