RSS not to wade into Gandhi Jayanti row but wants holidays reduced

NAGPUR: RSS today refused to be drawn into the controversy over BJP-led Goa government's decision to drop Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 from the list of public holidays but said the number of holidays in the country should come down for improved work culture.

"I don't know the reasons for this decision. We will see why it happened. But, according to a survey, people in India hardly work for 150-155 days a year on account of holidays. Their number must come down for better work culture," RSS General Secretary Suresh Joshi said today.

A controversy erupted after Gandhi Jayanti, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, was not marked as a holiday in the current year's calender of the Goa government released yesterday.

Though the Goa government is yet to formally clarify the rationale behind the decision, a senior official from the General Administration Department said it had the approval of government.