Ram Mandir Inauguration: A grand program of Ramlala Pran Pratishtha is going to be held in Ayodhya on 22 January. In view of this program, holidays have been announced in many states, while the central government has given half a day leave to the central employees. In the same sequence, when the Maharashtra government also announced a holiday, 4 students studying law reached the court regarding the matter, which is to be heard tomorrow on Sunday (January 21).
According to Live Law, a special bench of the Bombay High Court is going to hear the PIL filed by these 4 students at 10.30 am on Sunday. The names of these four students are Shivangi Agarwal, Satyajit Siddharth Salve, Vedant Gaurav Agarwal and Sandeep Bangian. A special bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale has been constituted to hear the case.
Opposition to Maharashtra government order
The Maharashtra government issued an order on Friday (January 19) declaring January 22 as a public holiday in the state. The petitioners said that declaring a public holiday to celebrate any religious event is a violation of the principles of secularism enshrined in the Constitution. Law students argued that no state can associate with or promote any religion.
What did the students say in the petition?
According to Live Law, the petition said, “This act of the government of celebrating the dignity of a Hindu temple, openly participating in it and thus associating with a particular religion is a direct attack on the principles of secularism.”
It further said, “Any policy regarding declaration of public holidays cannot be based on the whims and wishes of the political party in power. The holiday may be declared to remember a patriot individually or to commemorate a historical figure but not to celebrate Ram Lalla’s reputation to please a particular section of the society or religious community.”
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