Srinagar: In another blatant attempt to impose the Hindutva ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the authorities in Doda district of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir has issued an order making the recitation of the Indian Hindu song \u2018Vande Mataram\u2019 compulsory in all schools, triggering outrage across the Muslim-majority territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, the directive issued by Doda\u2019s Chief Education Officer on November 1 instructs all school heads to ensure that \u2018Vande Mataram\u2019 is recited during morning assemblies every Monday. The order has been widely condemned by religious leaders, political organizations, and members of civil society as a direct assault on the religious freedom of Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senior APHC leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who also heads the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulama (MMU), a conglomerate of religious organizations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, also condemned the move, saying it reflects a \u201cdeliberate attempt to enforce RSS-driven Hindutva ideology on the Muslim-majority population in Kashmir.\u201d He said true patriotism does not demand violating one\u2019s faith, stressing that such coercive policies are eroding the secular fabric of India itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Talking to The Wire, Mirwaiz said, Vande Mataram contains \u201cexpressions of devotion that contradict the Islamic belief in the absolute oneness of Allah\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIslam does not permit any act that involves worship or reverence directed to anyone or anything other than the Creator. While Muslims are urged to deeply love and serve their homeland, that devotion should be expressed through service, compassion and contribution to society \u2013 not through acts conflicting with faith,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kashmir\u2019s Grand Mufti, Nasir-ul-Islam, strongly denounced the order, terming it a \u201cblasphemous act\u201d and a \u201ccalculated move to provoke religious sentiments.\u201d He said the lyrics of \u2018Vande Mataram\u2019\u2014which glorify Hindu deities\u2014are incompatible with Islamic monotheism and should never be imposed on Muslim students. \u201cThis circular is an attempt to develop hatred between communities. The officers responsible must be held accountable and the order rescinded immediately,\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIslam prohibits Muslims from worshipping idols and that the lyrics of the song \u2013 which refer to the Hindu deities Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati and also call for bowing before the country \u2013 undermine the basic tenets of Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe circular is an attempt to develop hatred between communities. Reverence is one thing but we have nothing to do with these deities. It is an arbitrary decision. The officers responsible for this should be held to account and the order should be rescinded at the earliest,\u201d Mufti said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added: \u201cWhat is the purpose of this diktat? If anyone objects to this order, there are chances that the situation could turn volatile. Who would be responsible in that case?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The APHC leadership, in a statement, said the BJP regime is systematically targeting Muslim beliefs and culture under the guise of nationalism. It added that the imposition of \u2018Vande Mataram\u2019 exposes New Delhi\u2019s real intent to assimilate Kashmiris through cultural domination rather than respecting their distinct identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kashmiris see the move as part of India\u2019s wider agenda to erase their Islamic identity and suppress their political aspirations under the garb of cultural nationalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-KMS<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Srinagar: In another blatant attempt to impose the Hindutva ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the authorities in Doda district of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir has issued an order making the recitation of the Indian Hindu song \u2018Vande Mataram\u2019 compulsory in all schools, triggering outrage across the Muslim-majority territory. According to Kashmir […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,84,396],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-india","category-latest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}