‘Christmas to be govt holiday, not Good Governance Day’

Panaji:The Goa govern-ment will celebrate a Christ-mas holiday and not ‘Good Governance Day’ as manda-ted by the National Demo-cratic Alliance government for Dec 25, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters here, Parsekar said Goa had a unique synergy between Hindus and Christians and it was not possible to obse-rve Good Governance Day and keep government offi-ces open on Christmas day
“We have informed high command that we will be unable to observe Good Governance Day on Dec 25. But we will do it before and after that day,” Parsekar said. The CM said Goa had a long tradition of “Chris-tians visiting Hindu homes on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi and Hindus visiting Christian homes on Christmas”, because of which a holiday is essential.
The BJP government at the Centre has called for a nationwide initiative to promote Dec 25 as Good Governance Day. It also happens to be former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s birthday.
The initiative has, however, resulted in a lot of opposition, especially from minority organisations, which have accused the BJP-led coalition govern-ment of trying to hurt the sentiments of Christians who celebrate Christmas Dec 25.(IANS)