SRINAGAR, Sep 9 (Agencies): A political row has erupted within the INDIA bloc in Jammu and Kashmir after the Congress objected to the full version of Vande Mataram being sung at an inaugural event of the International Film Festival in Srinagar and attended by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah.
The controversy has brought the uneasy relationship between the Congress and its ally, the National Conference.
Congress general secretary in-charge of organisation K C Venugopal shared a video of the performance on X and urged the alliance partner National Conference to support the Congress’s position of sticking to the shorter version of Vande Mataram.
“The full version of Vande Mataram does not align with the harmonious and pluralistic ethos that our freedom fighters envisioned and nurtured for India,” Venugopal said.
He invoked Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose, Rajendra Prasad, Acharya Narendra Dev, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Sarojini Naidu and J B Kripalani, saying their collective decision on the song remained paramount, with Rabindranath Tagore’s advice also playing an important role in shaping it.
“With respect and humility, we would like our allies to honour the wisdom and judgment of our freedom fighters, and stand with us in singing only the version of this beautiful and historic song that they adopted. That version was chosen deliberately, to keep the song from being communalised – a threat as real today as it was then. Upholding it is how we uphold the secular, inclusive character of our Republic,” he said.
J&K Congress President Tariq Karra said it was a “matter of concern that our alliance partners chose to sing the full version of Vande Mataram.”
“National symbols, songs and traditions occupy a special place in the heart of every Indian. Their true strength lies in their ability to bind together a nation as diverse as ours. It is therefore a matter of concern that our alliance partners chose to sing the full version of Vande Mataram, disregarding the considered evolution of the song’s place in India’s national life-not merely during the freedom movement, but through the constitutional journey of the Republic thereafter. The adopted version represented a conscious balance preserving the historic,” Karra said.
Venugopal’s remarks, drew a sharp response from BJP. The J&K unit of BJP termed it a new low for the Congress.
” Their own ALLY Muslim Leaders are singing Vande Mataram with pride and chest out. And CONgress, the self-appointed Thekedar of Muslims, is abusing them and calling Vande Mataram Anti-Muslim. Who the hell are YOU You rice-bag converts will now teach actual Muslims what is Islam and what is Anti-Islam You will sell the entire community, the entire nation just to lick the feet of 2-3 radical mullahs There is no party more anti-Muslim and anti-national than Congress. You are a disgrace,” the BJP’s J&K said on X.
Last month, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, resolved to follow the 1937 party resolution on Vande Mataram and decided that only its first two stanzas would be sung at future Congress events.