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Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has distanced his government from the decision to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Indian national song Vande Mataram in schools, asserting that such directives should not come through external interference.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, speaking to reporters in Budgam, Omar Abdullah said, \u201cThis decision has not been made by the cabinet, nor has the education minister signed off on it. We should decide what happens in our schools without outside dictation on these matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said there should be no outside dictation on such matters and no interference in governing the territory.<\/p>\n
On October 30, the Culture Department of IIOJK had directed all schools across the occupied territory to participate in the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram.<\/p>\n
The directive triggered strong backlash from religious leaders and civil society, who denounced it as yet another attempt to impose Hindutva ideology on the Muslim-majority territory.<\/p>\n
Mutahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), an alliance of several religious organisations in IIOJK, demanded the immediate withdrawal of what they termed a \u201ccoercive order,\u201d stressing that parts of the song contradict Islamic tenets of monotheism.<\/p>\n
\u201cForcing Muslim students and institutions to participate in activities that violate their faith is both unjust and unacceptable,\u201d the MMU said in a statement. The body warned that the directive was part of a wider RSS-driven agenda to enforce Hindutva ideology under the guise of cultural unity.<\/p>\n
The MMU has called on the IIOJK authorities to immediately revoke the order and ensure that no institution or student is coerced into participating in programmes that contravene their religious beliefs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has distanced his government from the decision to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Indian national song Vande Mataram in schools, asserting that such directives should not come through external interference. According to Kashmir Media Service, speaking to reporters in Budgam, Omar …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":187483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-187482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t