Vande Mataram Row: Kashmiri Leaders At Odds With Centre’s Views On Nationalism

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has often remained at loggerheads with the Lieutenant Governor (LG), Manoj Sinha, on key political issues. However, joining the ruling National Conference in criticising the BJP over its insistence on reciting the national song Vande Mataram are other parties, including the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), reflecting a new political dynamic in which Kashmiri leaders remain at odds with the Central government over its views on nationalism.

Earlier this month, during a special discussion on the 150th anniversary of the national song, National Conference MPs opposed its recitation, stating that it was against their Islamic beliefs. Former chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti accused the BJP of shying away from addressing issues of unemployment and price rise while raising divisive issues like mandatory singing of Vande Mataram.

The row over the national song points to the new political scenario that has emerged in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, with Kashmiri leaders routinely opposing the policies of the Central government that the BJP has reiterated were being pursued in the national interest.

In September, after the installation of the national emblem, Ashoka Chakra, as part of the name plaque of the new structure of the Hazratbal shrine complex in Srinagar by senior BJP leader and chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board, Darakhshan Andrabi, NC said this was done to promote “idol worship”.

In October, after Jammu and Kashmir police detained several youth for not standing while the national anthem was played at a football ground here, Mehbooba said, “It is unfortunate that the BJP has pushed this place to a spot where they are forcing people to stand for the national anthem at gunpoint.”

Amid the row over singing the national song, however, across Jammu and Kashmir, several official functions were held to mark the 150th year of its composition, with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah distancing himself from these commemorations, stating that he was not informed. Several senior and middle-rung officers took part in the celebrations, with more functions planned for January. Kashmiri politicians have, in the past, opposed the Central government's policies on holding Yoga Day-related events as well.

The Vande Matram celebrations have only sharpened the differences between Omar Abdullah and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, with both earlier remaining at loggerheads over issues such as the transfer of officers in the civil administration and demolition drives on encroached government land.

Senior BJP leader and columnist, Ashwani Chrungoo, however, says that the composition of the national song has “got nothing to do with the religion and the political parties are raising the issue for vote bank politics in Kashmir.” “We describe the land as a mother in Kashmiri too. Don’t we say Mouj Kasheer in Kashmiri, which is the ‘Mother Kashmir’? There are also references in the Urdu language of birthplace being called the motherland.”

Mohammad Maqbool Ganie, CPI leader, however, slammed the BJP for dividing people by raising religious issues for vote bank politics, saying the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to deliver “on the key issues of unemployment and improvement in the condition of the working class.” “The Central government has failed to deliver on issues like unemployment and fair wages to the workers, due to which it has banked on such matters that have divided the people on religious or caste lines.”

Earlier in his address on the national song in the Lok Sabha, PM Modi said that its composition by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1875 and its later incorporation in his novel Anand Math inspired the freedom movement against the British Empire, which had “imposed various pressures and injustices upon India.”

Historian and author, Professor Hari Om, says, “It was due to the policies of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that the portions of the Vande Mataram song which referred to the Hindu gods were deleted. The song galvanised the freedom movement in Bengal and across India before it was adopted as a national song.”

With the pro-Hindutva policies finding prominence in the BJP government at the centre, the Kashmiri leaders have starkly made known their differences. After having failed to make any headway in fulfilling their promises, like the restoration of Article 370 or the NC’s promise of autonomy or the PDP’s self-rule, the politics in Kashmir has also revolved around religious issues. Kashmiri politicians have often reacted to the problems concerning Muslims from outside Jammu and Kashmir, and in a recent incident, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, pulling down the Hijab of a Muslim woman in Patna, drew outrage here.

On the contrary, the political plank of the autonomy proposal addressed federalism, laying out a framework in which the Central government’s role remains restricted to defence, communication, and external affairs. The self-rule proposal talked about dialogue with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Legal expert Advocate H C Jalmeria says that with all the laws passed by the parliament remaining currently in force in Jammu and Kashmir, “due to the revocation of Article 370, the position would remain the same when the statehood is granted to the UT.  

"The current political scenario is such that the manifestoes of autonomy and self-rule cannot be given a legal shape. The procedure to restore any special provisions to Jammu and Kashmir is to get a law passed in Parliament, but for that, the intent of the government is essential,” he says.

“The current political climate is such that the elected government feels that it is not able to meet the expectations of the people and is powerless. The autonomy report was rejected by the Central government when the NC government came to power after the 1996 elections. With the BJP in power at the Centre, the path to restoration of Article 370 too is a difficult one.”