Ram temple consecration: After Himachal, Jharkhand govt declares half-day working on Jan 22

The Jharkhand government has declared a half-day working on Monday for the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. "Hemant Soren has directed the Chief Secretary to keep all the government offices closed till 2:30 pm and to keep the government schools closed for the whole day. Have given instructions," the chief minister's office said in a tweet. 

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Jharkhand has become the second opposition-ruled government to declare a holiday on the occasion of the Ram temple's consecration ceremony on Monday.  

Earlier in the day, the Congress-ruled Himachal government declared a public holiday in the state on January 22 on the occasion of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of Ram in Ayodhya.

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"It is hereby notified that the full day of 22nd January shall be observed as a public holiday in all departments, boards, corporations, schools, colleges, universities etc of Himachal Pradesh Government to enable its employees on the occasion of Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha at Ayodhya," a notification from the general administration said. "The holiday will be applicable to the daily wage employees." 

So far, 14 BJP-ruled states have declared a holiday on the occasion of Ram temple consecration. The BJP leaders have been demanding Karnataka and West Bengal to declare a holiday on January 22. 

BJP's Tejashvi Surya urged Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah to declare a holiday on January 22. However, Karnataka's deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar defended the government's decision not to declare a public holiday, emphasizing that their devotion and religious practices are personal matters that should not be publicised.

"Our bhakti, our respect, our religion...we won't publicise that. Nobody has asked us this, but our ministers are doing pooja in temples. Our prayers will bear fruit. We are asking everyone to pray," he said.