On board special aircraft, Feb 20: Strongly criticising the decision of the Uttar Pradesh government to reduce school hours on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today said such decisions are only taken in theocratic state. Speaking on board his aircraft en route to Varanasi, Advani said even the Muslims in the state had realised that the decision was aimed at using them as vote banks and not for the benefit of the minorities.

He said the Muslims had told him that they were in favour of more schools rather than holidays.

The state government's decision to change the school hours till noon on Fridays was apparently aimed at facilitating the Friday prayers. Answering another question, Advani said Hindutva should not be equated to any religion or ritual as it was basically cultural nationalism. It was also wrong to attempt to link Hindutva to developmental programmes, the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Referring to the activities of some parties in Uttar Pradesh, he said it was unfortunate that many only indulged in anti-national activities.

Bureau Report