The Kerala government has ordered a probe into school students singing an RSS song onboard the newly inaugurated Vande Bharat Express from Ernakulam to Bengaluru, triggering a political firestorm.
While Union ministers defended the act as patriotic, Opposition leaders and the state government have condemned it as a violation of constitutional principles.
General education minister V. Sivankutty directed the Director of Public Instructions (DPI) to conduct an inquiry and submit a report.
“Politicising children at government events and using them to promote the communal agenda of any particular group is a violation of constitutional principles. The Director of Public Instructions (DPI) has been directed to immediately conduct an inquiry and submit a report,” Sivankutty said.
The minister added that the inquiry would examine whether there were lapses in making students participate in the official event and that appropriate action would follow.
“The government has a responsibility to uphold the secular and national values of the country and steps will be taken to ensure that these principles are protected,” he said.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the incident, saying the inclusion of an RSS song in a government event “deserves to be protested” and is a violation of constitutional principles.
CPI(M) general secretary M. A. Baby called it a “challenge to democracy.”
Opposition Congress slammed the incident, calling it a blatant misuse of schoolchildren for political ends.
Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan asked, “At an official function, children were made to sing the RSS gana geetham. Action must be taken against the school that allowed this. Who decided to use children for communal purposes?”
Satheesan added, "Official functions should not be politicised. If the RSS wants to sing its gana geetham, let its members do it themselves. Politicisation will not be allowed at the expense of the public. How can the RSS gana geetham be called a patriotic song?"
Congress leader M. M. Hassan said, "It is highly objectionable that, during the inaugural event of the Vande Bharat train, students were forced to sing an RSS song. This should not be repeated in the future. The matter must be taken seriously, and the authorities should take strict action against those responsible."
Union minister Suresh Gopi described the song as an innocent celebration. “They felt to sing that song at the moment and they did so. Anyway, it's not an extremist song,” he said.
BJP leader Dilip Ghosh hit out at Kerala CM Vijayan, claiming, “Communists are afraid of patriotism and nationalism, and their ideology of a ‘one world’ concept has completely failed. Anyone can sing patriotic songs, people sing them in schools, colleges, universities, and even on the streets. What is there to fear in that? They keep complaining because they have nothing else to do.”
George Kurian also defended the rendition, asking what is communal in a ‘gana geetham’ and suggesting that those who propagate anti-India sentiments abroad may not like it.
The school management, defended the act.
Dinto K. P., principal of Saraswathi Vidyanikethan Public School in Elamakkara, said, “It was not sung as directed by the Southern Railway but children chose to sing it themselves as a Malayalam patriotic song.”
He also claimed that the children are facing cyberbullying and being branded as “Sanghi kids” on social media.
The Southern Railway had initially withdrawn the video of the performance from social media following backlash but reposted it on Sunday along with an English translation, stating, “The students of Saraswathi Vidyalaya beautifully performed their school song during the inaugural run of the Ernakulam Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express.”