The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, which is currently in power, is allegedly trying to instigate a "fight with Christians," according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who questioned why several schools in a district had moved their weekly holiday from Sunday to Friday on Tuesday.
43 schools in the Jamtara district of Jharkhand, which is largely Muslim, reportedly unilaterally switched their weekly holiday from Sunday to Friday in July 2022.
In Islam, Friday is regarded as the most sacred day of the week. Friday is a weekly holiday observed by several nations with a majority of Muslims, Scroll.in reported.
The Times of India reported that the state administration had reinstated Sunday as the weekly break and dissolved the school management bodies in response to complaints.
Bringing up the issue of the Friday holiday, the PM is now trying to create a rift between the Muslim and Christian populations within the constituency. Earlier in a speech, he said that if the opposition is elected they would “calculate the gold with [Hindu] mothers and sisters” and transfer it “among those who are infiltrators and have more children,” alluding to the Muslims.
After the Hindu vs Muslim rhetoric, the campaigning language has now turned into a Muslim vs Christian one.
On Saturday, Jamtara will participate in the seventh and last round of the Lok Sabha elections. The district is included in the Lok Sabha constituency of Dumka, which is where Modi's rally took place.
“In our country, there is a holiday on Sunday,” Modi said on Tuesday. “When the British used to rule here – as Christians have a holiday on Sunday – this tradition began.”
He added: “Sunday is not associated with Hindus but with Christians. This [practice] has been going on here for the past 200 to 300 years. But in one district, they put a lock on the Sunday break and said that the holiday will be on Fridays. First, there was a fight with Hindus, and now, there is a fight with Christians too – what is going on?”
In addition to Dumka, Rajmahal and Godda are the other two Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand that will hold elections on Saturday. Four state constituencies held elections on May 13, three on May 20, and four on May 25.