‘Should Kashmiris be jailed?’ Omar Abdullah's sharp reply to Congress amid Vande Mataram row

The chief minister said that legally, wherever the national anthem is played, all stanzas of Vande Mataram have been made mandatory.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has pushed back at ally Congress over the Vande Mataram row, calling singing all stanzas of the national song at official events a statutory requirement that cannot be sidestepped.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah. (PTI Photo)

This came days after the Congress criticised the National Conference (NC) over the singing of the full version of the Vande Mataram at the inauguration of the International Film Festival of Jammu and Kashmir.

"They (Congress) should have stopped this in Parliament. But, a law has been enacted. Now, in a function where two governors, one lieutenant governor, and the acting chief justice of our high court are present, the national anthem will obviously be played," Abdullah told reporters on Thursday.

The Vande Mataram song was accorded a status on par with the national anthem Jana Gana Mana in July. Parliament passed a bill making any insult to it a punishable offence, rekindling the long-running debate over its place in India's history and identity.

The chief minister said that legally, wherever the national anthem is played, all stanzas of Vande Mataram have been made mandatory.

“So, what does the Congress want? That Kashmiris should be put in jail for this reason? This is a statutory obligation,” he said. "This is not just for Jammu and Kashmir; it applies to the entire country. In states governed by the Congress, the same will happen at government functions.”

Abdullah continued: “This is now a statutory obligation. Even today, at the closing ceremony, a Union minister will be present. The national anthem will be played there, and the national song will be played too.”

Abdullah dismissed the controversy as an attempt to make "a mountain out of a molehill".

"When the Congress comes to power, and I pray the Congress comes 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 fulfil them," he said.

The Congress, which provides outside support to the NC-led government in the Union territory and shares a broader national alignment under the opposition INDIA bloc, had publicly expressed strong disapproval over the singing of the full version of the Vande Mataram song. The Congress has six MLAs in the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

Congress general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal had posted a video on X, asserting that the unabridged version of Vande Mataram "sits uneasily with the syncretic and pluralist ethos that our freedom fighters envisioned and nurtured for India".

He urged alliance partners to honour the Congress' historical 1937 working committee resolution, which adopted a truncated version of the song to respect India's religious diversity and conscience.

Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Tariq Hamid Karra also expressed concern over the NC's move, saying national symbols must reflect India's constitutional temperament.

"The adopted version represented a conscious balance, preserving historic significance while remaining sensitive to India's plural ethos," Karra wrote on X.

"National symbols acquire greater dignity when they accommodate India's diversity, not when that diversity is asked to accommodate them," he said.

NC spokesperson Sadiq tagged Karra in a post on X in which he shared videos of Independence Day functions in Congress-ruled Karnataka and Telangana where the full version of Vande Mataram was played.

"Jenab Tariq Karra saheb, please take a look at your Congress CMs and share your valuable thoughts with everyone. Thank you!" Sadiq said.