Mokokchung, 28 September (MTNews): The Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC) has welcomed the Nagaland State government’s decision to prepone the Central government’s proposed massive cleanliness drive across the country on 1 October 2023, by a day to September 30, 2023. However, the NTC has also expressed dismay at the announcement of the Government of India to hold the cleanliness drive on a Sunday, which is a day of worship for the Christian community. The NTC has urged the Centre to avoid fixing official launching programs on Sundays as far as practicable.
The NTC stated in a press release that the Christian community in Nagaland seriously feels “insulted” as the proposed official scheduled date of 1st October 2023 for the massive cleanliness drive falls on Sunday.
“This is not the first instant that the Hindu dominated Country discriminates against the Christians in the country in general and the Northeast in particular where Nagaland is no exception in the matter of launching government programs coinciding with the Sunday worshiping services,” NTC claimed.
The NTC emphasized that while Nagaland is a Christian-dominated state, it respects all forms of religion and observes official holidays like Durga Puja, Diwali, Guru Nanak Birthday, Janmashtami, Id-ul-Zuha, Holi, Id-ul-Fitr, among others. However, they noted that 25 December, an important day for Christians worldwide, is not recognized as a general holiday in mainland India.
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