SRINAGAR: Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Hamid Karra has hit back at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over his remarks questioning whether the Congress expected people in Kashmir to “go to jail over the national song”, saying the issue concerned the JK government and not the public.
Omar Abdullah Sahib’s comment is detached from reality and therefore highly unfortunate.
How did the “People of Jammu & Kashmir” come into the picture when our expectations were clearly and exclusively from the Government of Jammu & Kashmir?
The public has nothing to do with… pic.twitter.com/eTQAexQlJk
— Tariq Hameed Karra (@TariqKarra) September 11, 2026
In a post on X, Karra described Omar’s remarks as “detached from reality and highly unfortunate”, and said the expectations were directed “clearly and exclusively” at the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The public has nothing to do with this debate. It is the government that is expected to stand upright,” Karra said.
Karra also referred to the singing of Vande Mataram at Independence Day events in other states, asking whether anyone in Kerala had been jailed when the state government chose to sing only the first two stanzas of the national song.
“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?” he asked.
He further questioned whether it was unreasonable to expect the J&K Chief Minister to uphold what he described as secular and inclusive values, citing the governments of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana as examples.
“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 the first two stanzas at state events?” Karra said.
