Patna, Nov 28 (IANS): After the Bihar government slashed leaves on Hindu festivals in the state, Union MoS Home Affairs Nityanand Rai sharply attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and said that he is a "king of "appeasement who is not hesitating to take "Tughlaqi decisions".

"Nitish Kumar should immediately stop playing with the sentiments of Hindu. The Nitish Kumar government has slashed the leaves on Hindu festivals and increased the same on Muslim festivals, he is conspiring to take Bihar towards Islam. The people of the country would not accept Islamic facilitators like Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav," Rai said.

Meanwhile, state building Construction Minister Ashok Choudhary said: "Such a decision may have been taken by lower rank officers. Such a decision has not been taken by a cabinet minister or additional chief secretary level officer. A similar decision was taken in the past too and the state government rectified it. This time too, we will rectify it."

Neeraj Kumar, the JD(U) MLC said that the state Education Minister has increased the leaves on some of the Muslim festivals and reduced the leaves of Sab-E-Barat which is also a Muslim festival. It is up to the education department to clarify the logic behind enhancing the leave."

The Education Department issued a notification cancelling the leaves on many Hindu festivals and increased the same on Muslim festivals. Besides the education department also enhanced the summer vacation by 10 days.

As per the fresh notification for year 2024, the education department has made mandatory 220 days of study for the students and 60 days leave. However, the leave of Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Juha and Muharram were enhanced from two days to three days. Even the summer vacation has been enhanced from 20 days to 30 days for the year 2024.

The education department has cancelled the leave of Hartalika Teej, Janmastami, Mahashivratri, Ram Navami, Saraswati Puja, Rakhi, Teej and Jitiya.