Srinagar, Sept 11: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Hameed Karra on Friday hit back at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over his remarks on the Vande Mataram controversy, saying the CM’s response was “detached from reality” and that the issue was about the conduct of the government, not the people.
Reacting to Omar Abdullah’s comments, Karra wrote on X, that expectations had been directed “clearly and exclusively” towards the Government of Jammu and Kashmir and questioned why the people of J&K had been brought into the debate.
“The public has nothing to do with this debate. It is the government that is expected to stand upright,” Karra said, arguing that the controversy should not be shifted from the government to the people.
He said the CM’s remarks raised two questions, including whether any person in Kerala had been jailed when the state government chose to sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at an Independence Day parade.
Karra also questioned whether people were wrong in expecting the J&K Chief Minister to uphold what he described as secular and inclusive values, citing the examples of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana, where he said state events had limited the rendition to the first two stanzas.
“Are we wrong to expect our Hon’ble CM to be equally capable of standing up for secular and inclusive values?” Karra asked.
Taking his argument further, the PCC chief brought the recently concluded International Film Festival of Jammu and Kashmir into the controversy, rejecting what he termed an attempt to dilute the responsibility of the government by referring to who was or was not present at the event.
Karra said IFFJK 2026, titled ‘Rang-e-Cinema’, was a “state event” jointly organised by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), J&K, and the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), and was inaugurated by Omar Abdullah himself.
“Who else was or wasn’t present is irrelevant—a superfluous detail meant only to distract from the core issue,” he said.
The PCC chief maintained that the central question was not about the attendance of individuals but about the position taken by the government at an official event.
His remarks come amid a political debate over the rendition of Vande Mataram at the IFFJK inaugural event, with opposition parties questioning the government’s handling of the matter and seeking clarity on the decision.
Karra said the government could not evade scrutiny by invoking the presence or absence of members of the public, insisting that accountability for a state-organised event rested with the administration.
