NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today acknowledged “complaints” that he makes people work on holidays.
Speaking at an event in Madhya Pradesh, Mr Modi said he hadn’t realized that it was Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s birthday.
“When we decided on March 5 for the programme, we didn’t know it was his birthday. Besides, people always say about me – what kind of a Prime Minister is he? He doesn’t let anyone spend birthdays, Holi…he has no other work. I bow to your complaints,” the Prime Minister said, while inaugurating thermal power units in Khandwa.
The PM is known to be a workaholic and has, in his 10 months in office, scheduled some of his government’s most important activities and events on public holidays or Sundays.
This morning, he wished people for Holi, the festival of colours to be celebrated tomorrow.
On the other popular festival of Diwali, Mr Modi visited Siachen, the world’s highest battlefield in Jammu and Kashmir, and spent a few hours fraternizing with soldiers there.
Last year, Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary “Gandhi Jayanti” on October 2, a national holiday, became one of the busiest days for government employees who reported to work for the grand launch of the Prime Minister’s Swachch Bharat or Clean India mission.
Officials on the PM’s team are used to long hours but in November, new ministers who joined the Cabinet were told to avoid going on leave and be prepared to work even on public holidays.
