Misinformation Wave: Bihar Festival Holidays Become Target Of Fake News
By Sabrang India Team
November 29, 2023
This time, it all started with a list of public holidays, in
Bihar. Two days ago when the Bihar Education Department released the list of
school holidays, it was calculatedly amplified into a media-driven
misinformation/fake-news campaign.
Beginning with newspapers, followed by electronic media
outlets, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fully capitalized on this malicious
campaign. All these links in the fake news chain were essentially alleging that
“Hindu Holidays have been cancelled and Muslim holidays have been introduced”
in Bihar.
This misinformation and fake-news was made to go viral on
social media with trolls chipping in. Never forget that Bihar remains a
political thorn-in-the-flesh for the ruling regime, especially after chief
minister Nitish Kumar switched sides—again—and is now with the secular
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
First, several Hindi newspapers published articles
(well-coordinated!) saying that the Bihar Education Department has ‘abolished’
holidays for ‘Hindu’ festivals and increased holidays for ‘Muslim’
celebrations. Soon, we witnessed a well-coordinated propaganda both in the
print media and on social media platforms. Predictably, several senior BJP
leaders and “influencers” amplified the Fake-News. Commercial electronic (TV)
News Channels promptly started “debates” on this issue and conveniently invited
representatives of the dominant, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to amplify this
out of context and spread more lies and fake news. The social media storm
around this has been created to create the impression that “Hindu masses” are
also angry as they see this propaganda as “real.”
So much so that the Bihar education department has now been
compelled to issue a “clarification” regarding school holidays for the academic
session 2024. The announcement clarified that there were/are no changes in the
number of holidays next year and that all schools have always remained open and
celebrated the birth anniversaries of great men. The education department made
the clarifications in response to the rumours circulating around the recently
released school holiday calendar 2024.
This is what the Bihar government has had to do.
Bihar school holiday 2024 calendar out, BSEB clarifies
different lists for Urdu and general schools
What Is The Actual Context?
Every year the many state governments release a list of
holidays for schools. There are different calendars issued for different set of
schools. They issue a different list of holidays for Madarsa and Maktabs. By
picking up and highlighting only the Holiday list of the Madrasas and Maktabs
and making out as if these holidays applied to all educational institutions,
this barrage of fake information was spreading falsehood, stigma and prejudice.
[For example the Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education gives
Friday as a weekly holiday even under the Adityanath’s leadership. This may be
read here.
The Nitish Kumar-RJD combine has increased the summer
vacation holidays from 20 to 30 days, therefore many festivals that fall during
that period are not mentioned separately as holidays. The BJP has cynically
used this as an opportunity to deliberately spread a fear/hate campaign.
Propaganda Examples
ना रामजी
का, ना कृष्ण
जी, ना शिव
जी, ना महान
सम्राट अशोक का है बिहार!
–ईद : 3 दिन
–बकरीद: 3 दिन
–मुहर्रम : 2 दिन
– शुक्रवार
(जुमा): मुस्लिम बहुल क्षेत्र में अघोषित छुट्टी
–रामनवमी : 0 दिन
–रक्षाबंधन: 0 दिन
–महाशिवरात्रि: 0 दिन
–श्रीकृष्ण जन्माष्टमी
: 0 दिन
– सम्राट
अशोक अष्टमी: 0 दिन
ये कोई
दूसरे देश का कैलेंडर नहीं, लालू–नीतीश के तुष्टिकरण का खामियाजा पूरा बिहार भुगत रहा है।
Bihar govt has slashed the school holidays on the occasions
of Janmashtami, Rakshabandhan, Shivratri. However, ‘3 holidays have been given
during Eid’. Urdu schools to get weekly holiday on Friday instead of Sunday
The Bihar government has enforced discriminatory policies by removing holidays for many Hindu festivals in schools & granting three-day holidays for one-day Muslim festivals. This is a clear example of appeasement politics, which is a great injustice to the Hindu community. pic.twitter.com/FjEwn7nfSv
— ADV. ASHUTOSH J. DUBEY 🇮🇳 (@AdvAshutoshBJP) November 28, 2023
The Bihar government has enforced discriminatory policies by
removing holidays for many Hindu festivals in schools & granting three-day
holidays for one-day Muslim festivals. This is a clear example of appeasement
politics, which is a great injustice to the Hindu community.
VIDEO | "Does Bihar CM Nitish Kumar want to form Islamic Republic of Bihar?" says Union minister and BJP leader @girirajsinghbjp on reports of #Bihar government's decision to reduce the number of holidays for the state’s schools during Hindu festivals and increasing it for Muslim… pic.twitter.com/YdGOWjk9hn
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 28, 2023
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Background: Indian National Holidays
Being a culturally diverse country, there are many festivals
celebrated in various regions across the country. There are only three national
holidays declared by the Government of India: Republic Day (26 January),
Independence Day (15 August), and Gandhi Jayanti (October 2). Apart from this,
certain holidays which are celebrated nationally are declared centrally by the
Union Government. Additionally, various state governments and union territories
designate additional holidays on local festivals or days of importance as
holidays as per section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. National
holidays are mandatory holidays declared by Government of India which are
applicable for all states and union territories of India.
Central holidays: In addition to the three fixed national
holidays, the Union Government of India declares additional days as holidays
which are largely followed by central government offices and affiliates. In
addition to designated fixed holidays, few other days are designated optional
from which a select number of days can be chosen according to individual
convenience. (Central holidays ‘Optional’) State holidays: In addition to the
above, various state governments and union territories designate additional
holidays on local festivals or days of importance as public holidays as per
section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. Besides, they declare their own
State days as holidays, birth anniversary days, festivals and others as
holidays as well.
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Sabrang India Editor’s Take: This is one more example
of “Hit and Run Sabotage” Propaganda. There has been a history of such fake
propaganda campaigns by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) BJP especially during
the election time. Many media houses also add to the confusion and promote Fake
News. It takes about a week to 10 days for people to understand the facts, the
news channels never apologise on their own for peddling essentially false
information. Ultimately the damage is done, especially during an elections
campaign.
Source: Bihar:
How Festival Holidays Become Target Of Fake News
URL: https://newageislam.com/current-affairs/misinformation-bihar-festival-holidays-fake-news/d/131220
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