Rejecting the demand of the leaders of the ruling National Conference, the Jammu and Kashmir Government on Sunday released the unchanged list of holidays for the year 2025.
National Conference leaders including Ministers have demanded the restoration of holiday on the birth anniversary of the party's founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.
There is no holiday on December 5 in the list of holidays issued by the General Administration Department of the Jammu and Kashmir Government.
December 5 is the birthday of Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, who was the founder of the ruling National Conference.
According to the list of holidays issued by the GAD in a Government Order No.2193-JK(GAD) of 2024 dated 29.12.2024, 28 holidays to be observed in across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2025.
Furthermore, four holidays are to be observed in Kashmir province and three in Jammu province. Seven are the local holidays to be observed in different districts across the year and four are the restricted holidays.
Ohhh 5 Dec is not in the list…, pic.twitter.com/m3QesQBdDp
— Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali (@chzulfkarali) December 29, 2024
Notable this year, after the formation of a popular government, the National Conference leaders including ministers have raised their concerns over the omission of December 5 as a public holiday in Jammu and Kashmir.
Some ministers have announced that the holiday would be reinstated. "There will be no financial burden on the J&K government if a holiday is declared on Sheikh Abdullah's birth anniversary. It would be a gesture of respect to the founder of the NC, whose decisions made J&K the crown of India. From next year, December 5 will definitely be a public holiday as we have understood the people's sentiment," a minister said while addressing the media.
Following the abrogation of J&K's special status in 2019, the administration had removed two public holidays: December 5, Sheikh Abdullah's birth anniversary, and July 13, which commemorated the deaths of protesters killed by the forces of the princely state in 1931.
Sheikh Abdullah, born on December 5, 1905, in the Soura area of Srinagar, was a pivotal figure in shaping the socio-political landscape of the erstwhile state.
Sheikh Abdullah's birth anniversary dropped from public holidays list in 2020
In 2020 The Jammu and Kashmir administration had dropped ex-chief minister Sheikh Abdullah's birth anniversary from its list of public holidays and included October 26 which is observed as 'Accession Day' figures in it.
On October 26, 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession which was duly accepted and signed a day later by Lord Mountbatten, the then Governor General of India.
List of holidays in 2025.
The list of holidays for 2025 includes Guru Gobind Singh Ji's Birthday (January 6), Republic Day (January 26), Shab-i-Miraj (January 27), Mahashivratri (February 26), Nauroz (March 21), Shab-i-Qadr (March 27), Jumat-ul-Vida (March 28), Navratra (March 30), Eid-ul-Fitr (March 31), Ramanavami (April 6), Baisakhi (April 13), the Birthday of Dr B.R. Ambedkar (April 14), Buddha Purnima (May 12), Eid-ul-Azha (June 7-8), Guru Hargobind Ji's Birthday (July 5), Ashoora (July 6), Independence Day (August 15), Janmashtami (August 16), Eid-i-Milad-ul-Nabi (September 5), the Friday following Eid-i-Milad (September 12), the Birthday of Maharaja Hari Singh Ji (September 23), Mahanavami (October 1), Dussehra (October 2), Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday (October 2), Diwali (October 21), Accession Day (October 26), Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Birthday (November 5), and Christmas Day (December 25).
