Jammu Kashmir Recites ‘Vande Mataram’ As LG Leads, CM Omar Abdullah Calls It ‘Outside Dictation’

Srinagar: A controversy has erupted in Jammu and Kashmir after Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha led mass recitations of Vande Mataram in the Union Territory, with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah criticising the move to make the national song’s recitation mandatory for school students and teachers, saying it was done without the consent of the elected government.

A directive of the Department of Culture, J&K, had mandated participation of students and staff in musical and cultural programmes to commemorate the 150th year of the national song. The Directors of Jammu and Kashmir school education departments were designated as nodal officers for coordinating the programmes on ‘Vande Mataram’.

But it had raised objections from Muslim religious bodies in Jammu and Kashmir, who termed the event as aimed at imposing RSS ideology. Kashmir’s chief cleric, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Muttahida Majlis Ulema, a grouping of Muslim religious bodies, declared it “un-Islamic” and demanded that LG Sinha and Chief Minister Abdullah withdraw the “coercive” directive.

“This decision has not been made by the cabinet. The education minister did not sign on to it,” said Abdullah. “We should decide what happens in our schools without outside dictation on these matters.”

Representational Image | J&K CM Omar Abdullah addressing a rally. (ETV Bharat)

The chief minister was on a day-long roadshow campaign for the party candidate Aga Syed Mehmood for the November 11 Budgam bypolls. The bypolls were necessitated after Abdullah vacated the seat and retained the family's Ganderbal constituency. He had won both seats in the legislative assembly polls last year.

Earlier, LG Sinha led the ‘Vande Mataram’ celebrations in Jammu with mass singing of the national song at an event attended by Members of Parliament, bureaucrats and police officers.

Paying tributes to its author, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sinha said that the song “strengthened the bond between Maa Bharti and her sons and inspired people to secure independence.”

“Our commitment and dedication to the motherland will take our nation to its destiny of a Viksit Bharat. Young generations must remember that they are inheritors of this great civilisation, and their contribution to the progress and prosperity of society will be a fitting tribute to Maa Bharti,” Sinha said.

Students in government schools marked the celebrations in the union territory with concerned officers part of these events.

A senior officer in Kashmir who was part of one such event in a Higher Secondary School, where the Vande Mataram was recited, followed by cultural programmes by students. Quiz competitions were also organised in these events.

In Jammu, similar programmes marked the week-long events on the 150th year of Vande Mataram. At many such events, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address was live-streamed.

This year marks 150 years of Vande Mataram since it was penned by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay on November 7, 1875. It first appeared in the literary journal Bangadarshan as part of his novel Anandamath. The song, invoking the motherland as the embodiment of strength, prosperity and divinity, gave poetic expression to India’s awakening spirit of unity and self-respect and became an enduring symbol of devotion to the nation.

In the early 1900s, Vande Mataram became an anthem for Indian peoples seeking independence from the British. It was sung at political gatherings, freedom demonstrations and protests against colonial rule. Figures such as Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, and Subhas Chandra Bose presented it as a reflection of awakening India.

The MMU argue that the national song, which became a rallying cry during the Independence movement, contains certain expressions of devotion that contradict the fundamental Islamic belief in the absolute ‘Oneness of Allah (Tawheed)’. Mirwaiz, who led the amalgam, said, “Islam does not permit any act that involves worship or reverence directed to anyone or anything other than the Creator.”

Also Read

1. ‘Vande Mataram Is a Symbol of Freedom, Not a Religious Song,’ Says Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis
2. ‘Relevant In Every Era And Period’: PM Modi Inaugurates Year-Long Commemoration Of 150 Years Of 'Vande Mataram'