Vande Mataram Row: Congress Tells Omar Abdullah Government to 'Stand Upright'

The dispute between the Congress and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over the full rendition of Vande Mataram at official events sharpened on Friday, with the party's state unit chief, Tariq Hameed Karra, calling the chief minister's remark on the issue "detached from reality".

At the centre of the row is the recent playing of the complete national song at an event in Jammu and Kashmir, which drew objections from the Congress. The party has advised that only the first two stanzas be sung, arguing that the full version does not fit the secular ethos envisaged in the Constitution.

Abdullah rejected that position, noting that the full rendition of Vande Mataram at official functions is mandatory under the law and that violations can invite punitive action. "Does Congress want Kashmiris to be thrown in jail on this issue?" he said.

Responding to the remark, Karra said his expectations were directed solely at the Jammu and Kashmir government and not at the public. "How did the people of Jammu & Kashmir come into the picture when our expectations were clearly and exclusively from the government of Jammu & Kashmir? The public has nothing to do with this debate. It is the government that is expected to stand upright," he said.

Karra posed pointed questions to the chief minister, asking whether a single person in Kerala had gone to jail when that state's government chose to sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at its Independence Day parade. He also asked whether it was wrong to expect the chief minister to stand up for secular and inclusive values, as the chief ministers of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and now Karnataka and Telangana have done by limiting the song to its first two stanzas at state events.

The central government, for its part, maintains that the full version must be sung. Earlier this year, it made it mandatory to sing all six stanzas before Jana Gana Mana at all government events, schools and official programmes.

Earlier this week, Omar Abdullah and his father, Farooq Abdullah, stood through the full rendition of Vande Mataram at the inaugural International Film Festival in Srinagar. The gesture drew criticism from senior Congress leader KC Venugopal, who objected in a post on X to the playing of all six stanzas at the opening ceremony.

The Congress extends outside support to the Omar Abdullah government and has repeatedly declined to join the cabinet, pointing to a rift between the two allies.