Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra on Friday criticised Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for saying that failure to comply with the Centre’s direction on singing the full version of ‘Vande Mataram’ could land Kashmiris in jail, calling his remarks “highly unfortunate” and “detached from reality”.
Earlier, while reacting to the controversy over the full version of the national song being played at a film festival, Abdullah asserted that it was a statutory requirement, and questioned whether the Congress wanted Kashmiris to be jailed.
In response, Karra pointed out that Keralam had decided to sing only the first two stanzas and that no one was put behind bars.
“Omar Abdullah sahib’s comment is detached from reality and, therefore, highly unfortunate,” he said.
Differences among the alliance partners cropped up after Congress slammed the ruling National Conference over the full rendition of the national song played at the inauguration of the International Film Festival of Jammu & Kashmir (IFFJK) here.
Abdullah defended the move, saying that the issue was needlessly politicised.
The chief minister had said that legally, wherever the national anthem is played, all six stanzas of Vande Mataram have been made mandatory.
“This is not just for Jammu and Kashmir; it applies across the entire country. In states governed by Congress, the same will happen at government functions. This is now a statutory obligation,” he said.
“Does Congress want Kashmiris to be thrown in jail on this issue?” he added.
The CM said his party had not adopted the full song and has no objection if the Congress revokes it in the future once it comes to power.
“When Congress comes to power, and I pray they come to power as soon as possible, they can revoke this in Parliament. Let them do it, we have no objection. In fact, as a party, we have never adopted Vande Mataram, and we won’t adopt it in the future either. But whatever our legal and statutory obligations are, we have to fulfill them,” he said.
Pushing back at the CM’s assertion, Karra questioned why Abdullah had framed the controversy around the general population.
“How did the people of Jammu & Kashmir come into the picture when our expectations were clearly and exclusively from the Government of Jammu & Kashmir?” Karra asked, asserting that the public had no role in the debate and that the onus remained squarely on the government to “stand upright.”
Karra drew parallels with other non-BJP-ruled states to challenge the chief minister’s stance on statutory compliance.
“But since Omar Sahib has raised the issue, it begs two questions: One, did a single person in Kerala go to jail when its government chose to sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at the Independence Day parade?”
“And second, 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 asked.
Karra said the IFFJK was a “state event” organised jointly by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), J&K, and the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), and it was inaugurated by Chief Minister Abdullah himself.
“So, who else was or wasn’t present is irrelevant, it is a superfluous detail meant only to distract from the core issue,” he added.
JKPCC condemns US post targeting Indians
Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) on Friday condemned an alleged objectionable social media post by the US Department of Homeland Security “asking ‘Mr Singh’ to self-deport” targeting Indians, particularly the Sikh community, and sought an appropriate response from the Centre.
JKPCC chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma’s reaction came after an advertisement posted by the Department of Homeland Security asking “Mr Singh” to self-deport sparked a controversy, with advocacy groups terming it racist and anti-American.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used AI-generated imagery on X to push its campaign against unlicensed commercial drivers, featuring a brown-bearded man with a tagline: “Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive Mr Singh.”
Sharma questioned the BJP and the Narendra Modi government over what he described as insulting treatment of Indians by the Donald Trump administration, recalling the close ties projected between Modi and Trump.
“India has not forgotten the campaign run by the Modi government in favour of Donald Trump with slogans like ‘Abkibaar, Trump sarkaar’ and ‘namaste Trump’. Was this the reward for such friendship — to insult Indians and threaten them to ‘get off our roads’?” Sharma told reporters here.
He said the nation also remembered the alleged “worst insult and treatment” meted out to Indians during the Trump administration when deported Indians were brought back to the country in handcuffs and chains on US military aircraft.
Recalling the tenure of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Sharma said slogans such as “Singh is King” resonated globally, and US Presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush praised Singh’s leadership.
“Today, the country is facing such insults under Narendra Modi, who claims India is a ‘Vishwaguru’,” he said.
Sharma demanded that the Indian government take up the matter appropriately with the US authorities and make its position clear.
“The nation will no longer tolerate insults to Indians. The BJP and the Modi government must explain how long the people of India will have to face such treatment under your weak regime,” he said.
The JKPCC called upon the Centre to protect the dignity of Indian citizens and respond firmly to any such statement or post issued by foreign governments or their agencies.
After widespread protests in America, the US Department of Homeland Security had to take down the post.
The advertisement sparked a push back from Indian-American and Sikh advocacy groups and also gained support from Democratic leaders such as California Governor Gavin Newsom and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. “This is disgusting. Trump’s government is trafficking in racist propaganda targeting the Sikh community,” Newsom’s press office said in a post on X.
