Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said people will take time to get used to singing the national song as it has been added to official functions only this year.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said people will take time to get used to singing the national song as it has been added to official functions only this year.

Commenting on the controversy surrounding Congress leaders’ alleged disrespect to Vande Mataram, Abdullah said there should be no controversy as all verses of the national song were sung.

“Congress also gave a clarification from its side. It said, look at the video, all three verses of VandeMataram were sung there. So what is the controversy here? They were sung. It will take us a little time to get used to it. This is the first time that this has been included. We are also adjusting a little bit,” Abdullah told reporters here.

A complaint filed with the Delhi Police recently sought registration of an FIR against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for alleged obstruction when Vande Mataram was being sung during the party’s Independence Day function at its headquarters in Delhi.

The Congress has asserted that there was no attempt to stop the singing of the full version, while maintaining that in 1937, a meeting of the Congress Working Committee in Kolkata decided that the initial stanzas of Vande Mataram would be sung at the Congress sessions.

Abdullah said the Independence Day parade on Saturday was the eighth he had attended as the chief minister, but the national song was played for the first time. “This was my eighth Independence Day parade, but it was for the first time VandeMataram was included in it. It took me some time to understand that first I will stand up, Vande Mataram will play, then I will unfurl the flag, then the National Anthem will play. Perhaps Congress also took time to adjust; it happens,” he said.

Abdullah refused to comment on PDP president Mehbooba Mufti’s post on X in which the former chief minister said she was a “dimaagi naxal” as she supported the restoration of Article 370.“Why are you asking me to explain or speak about what she tweets? It is her Twitter account, her daughter runs it, let her tweet what she likes,” he added.