Labour Pains For Communism: No More May Day Holiday In Tripura, Under BJP

According to the recent notification released by the Tripura government, International Labour Day, also known as May Day, will no longer be considered as a state holiday, reports The North East Today. However, the Under-Secretary, SK Debbarma, noted that May Day celebrated on 5 May, will be included under the ‘restricted’ holiday list. A government employee can avail four holidays in a year out of the possible 11 festival dates mentioned in the list.

This move is expected to provide public employees with choice in planning their work schedule. Also, this would prevent the forceful imposition of an ideological symbol on all sections of the state. The Union government does not recognise May Day as a national holiday and leaves the decision to individual state governments.

In the 2018 state elections, BJP (Bhartiya Janata party) won the mandate to govern. It replaced the 25-year-old communist government, run under the chief ministership of Manik Sarkar.

Responding to the decision, former labour minister, Manik Dey told the The Indian Express, “This is a totally anti-working class decision. This has made the BJP government’s stand clear on how they treat workers and labourers. International Labour Day is observed around the world to mark the liberation of the working class. I haven’t heard of any other state in India which has dropped May Day from its list of holidays.”

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