J&K Congress Chief Criticises Omar Abdullah Over Vande Mataram Remarks

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief Tariq Hameed Karra on Friday criticised Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over his remarks that the Congress wanted people in Kashmir to go to jail over the national song, Vande Mataram. Mr Karra described the remarks as detached from reality and questioned the Chief Minister's position on the controversy.

The dispute follows an official function in Srinagar on September 7, where Mr Abdullah, who is also National Conference vice president, and others stood for all six stanzas of Vande Mataram. The Congress has supported the rendition of only the first two stanzas, in line with what it describes as the historic 1937 resolution. Mr Abdullah has said his government will follow the law on the issue and accused the Congress of wanting to see people jailed over it.

Responding to that charge, Mr Karra said, 'Are we wrong to expect our Hon'ble CM to be equally capable of standing up for secular and inclusive values as the CMs of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and now even Karnataka and Telangana have done by limiting Vande Mataram to first two stanzas at State events?' He added that the public had nothing to do with the debate and that it was the government that was expected to stand upright.

Mr Karra asked whether a single person in Kerala had gone to jail when its government chose to sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at an Independence Day parade. He said the issue was not about individuals present at any event but about the constitutional and inclusive approach expected from a Chief Minister.

The Congress leader also referred to the first International Film Festival of Jammu and Kashmir (IFFJK) 2026, titled Rang-e-Cinema. He said it was a State event organised jointly by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations, J&K, and the National Film Development Corporation, and was inaugurated by the Chief Minister himself. Mr Karra said questions about who else was or was not present were irrelevant and amounted to a distraction from the core issue.

National Conference Member of Parliament Aga Syed Ruhullah also criticised Mr Abdullah's stand on Vande Mataram. In a post on X, he said, 'I fought against the imposition of stanzas of Vande Mataram, because its imposition is unconstitutional. I look behind and see that my party has not only abandoned the fight but have fallen in line to the BJP and the RSS in submission.'

Mr Ruhullah said that at a time when minorities were being pushed to the wall, there should be no normalisation of what he called the communal onslaught of the RSS and the BJP. He said that if people did not stand up for the legitimate concerns of minorities across India, no one else would. He described Jammu and Kashmir as the largest Muslim-majority, or minority-majority, region in the Union of India and said that should make the region more sensitive to the religious beliefs and concerns of minorities.

He added that Jammu and Kashmir had a historical opportunity to stand for what is right and that the chance should not be squandered. 'These are hard times. They call for statesmanship, sensitivity and courage — not another compromise,' the NC MP said.

Vande Mataram, written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, is India's national song. Its full rendition has been a subject of political and religious debate for decades, with some groups objecting to certain stanzas on grounds of religious symbolism. The Congress has historically advocated singing only the first two stanzas at official events, citing the 1937 resolution. The National Conference and the Congress are allies in Jammu and Kashmir, and the exchange of remarks has brought their differences over the issue into public view.