Escalating political row over RSS anthem at Vande Bharat flag off function takes a regulatory turn

The escalating political row over engaging schoolchildren to render a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) anthem (Gana Geetham) during the flagging-off ceremony of the Ernakulam-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express on Saturday (November 8, 2025) took a regulatory turn on Sunday (November 9). 

General Education Minister V. Sivankutty has tasked the Director of General Education, Kerala, with investigating the episode and reporting any violations of the Kerala Educational Act and the Kerala Educational Rules, pushing the festering controversy into a legal trajectory within the State government’s jurisdictionary authority.

Serious violation

Mr Sivankutty stated that the government viewed the matter with utmost seriousness. He said using children as a foil to imbue government functions with a political colour was a brazen violation of the Constitution and children’s rights, including the Right To Education, and a cheeky trespass on official protocol. “Can we allow revolutionary songs at official functions?” he added.

Mr Sivankutty stated that the Southern Railway’s “latest justification” — that the children sang their school anthem — was unconvincing. “The rules have not prescribed a common school anthem for Kerala”, he said. 

Mr Sivankutty noted the students hailed from a school following the Central syllabus. “But it does not give the institution immunity from KER rules. Moreover, the school authorities escorted the children to the heavily politicised function during class hours,” he said. 

CPI(M) line

Mr Sivankutty echoed the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] line that the Central government, including the Kerala Raj Bhavan, repeatedly subverted State events, governed by unambiguously codified protocol rules, to inject RSS symbols, songs, iconography, and Hindutva rhetoric into society, allegedly with a view to incrementally legitimising its divisive majoratarian nationalistic ideology. “The RSS is trying to supplant the national anthem at official functions with its Gana Geetham”, he added. 

“The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) misuse of official platforms to propagate RSS ideology with impunity is clearly anti-Constitutional. The BJP believes that holding power at the Centre grants it the right to break the law,” he added. 

Union Government’s defense

Two Union Ministers from Kerala defended the children’s group song. Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Tourism Suresh Gopi said there was no need to read any sly meanings into the episode. “The group song was an outburst of youthful exuberance. The children did not intone a terrorist song”, he added. 

Union Minister of State for Fisheries George Kurian said Congress leader and Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Sivakumar had rendered the “patriotic song” in the State Assembly and admitted that he had memorised the lines when in school. 

Reading out the lyrics, Mr Kurian sought to dispel the CPI(M) ‘s criticism that the “Gana Geetham” was regressive and projected a reactionary, Hindu-nationalistic worldview. 

“The song mentions social reformer Sree Narayana Guru, Maharshi Aravindan, and Swamy Ramdas. It projects national unity while celebrating India’s diversity”, he stated. 

Southern Railways

The Southern Railways sparked the row by posting a rendition of the contentious song on its social media handles, drawing condemnation from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary [Organisation] K.C. Venugopal.