Patna,(BiharTimes): The Bihar cabinet approved a holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act on April 14 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Emperor Ashok.

Incidentally, the date also coincides with the birth anniversary of Bhim Rao Ambedkar, which is already listed as a national holiday.

According to the principal secretary (cabinet secretariat) Brajesh Mehrotra there would be no additional holiday.

Political observers are of the view that the state government had actually succumbed to the caste politics played by the Bharatiya Janata Party on the run-up to the state Assembly election. The party celebrated Emperor Ashok’s birthday in a big way earlier this year and several party leaders claimed that he was a Kushwaha.

However, experts on Mauryan history like Romila Thapar had then questioned the very choice of date of the Emperor’s birthday.

She had then said that not to speak of the birthday, even his exact year of birth is matter of debate among historians.

This time again Thapar, an authority on Mauryan period, expressed surprise over the Bihar government’s decision. “I don’t know how they have calculated and arrived upon this date,” she was quoted in The Telegraph as saying.

If this is the case how is it that first the BJP and now the state government discovered the exact date of Emperor Ashok’s birthday. Anyway both Ashok and Ambedkar had one thing in common: they both converted to Buddhism.