IT is indeed shocking that the government at its incisive best decided not to observe Allama Iqbal Day as a national holiday. I do agree with the argument floated on news channels that as a developing country we need to do more work, so there should be fewer holidays.
But I strongly disagree with lots of stuff being aired that he has become less relevant to modern conditions. Let us leave for the time being how much modernity we have achieved in our intellectual and societal attitudes.
His Allahabad address remains the bastion of our ideological founding. He is the ideological founding father of our nation. And no self-respecting nation forgetsitsfoundingfathers.
Across the global spectrum, national ideologues are held in great esteem. It is thus an exercise of a limited vision to cancel a national holiday on his birth anniversary.
Allama Iqbal is inalienable in the annals of our national history and wields a unifying influence on the vast masses of Pakistan equally significantly. Men like Sir Allama Iqbal are beyond any controversy.
It is recommended that Allama Iqbal Day should be immediately restored as a public holiday in our own national interest.
