RSS song by school students at Vande Bharat launch stirs row in Kerala, principal says Railways had nothing to do with it

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the Sangh Parivar was using the Railways for its communal campaign, while the Congress-led Opposition leader V D Satheesan objected to students being made to participate in such an activity. The BJP hit back, saying the CM was disrespecting the children’s right to free speech.

The students of Saraswathi Vidyalaya beautifully performed their school song during the inaugural run of the Ernakulam–Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express pic.twitter.com/uvauXy9e6k

— Southern Railway (@GMSRailway) November 8, 2025

Twenty students and two teachers from Saraswathi Vidyanikethan Public School, Kochi, were among those who joined the inaugural run of the train, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off virtually. Their signing of the Gana Geetham was shared by the Southern Railway on its social media handles.

Saraswathi Vidyanikethan Public School principal K P Dinto said the Railways had no role in the song. “A TV channel crew approached the students with a request to sing a song. When they started singing Vande Mataram, the crew wanted the children to sing a Malayalam song. Hence, they immediately sang the Gana Geetham, which is a celebration of unity in diversity. The controversy was meant only to insult the students. The song was not against nationalism. Railways did not ask the student to sing it,” he said. The CBSE-affiliated school comes under Bharatheeya Vidyanikethan, which is the Kerala chapter of Vidya Bharathi, an education wing of the RSS.

But his comments did little to blunt the political firestorm.

The @GMSRailway making students sing the RSS anthem at the flag-off of the Ernakulam–Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express is highly condemnable. Including the anthem of an organisation known for its communal ideology and hate mongering in an official event is a blatant violation of…

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@pinarayivijayan) November 8, 2025

“It is highly objectionable that the students were made to sing RSS Gana Geetham during the inaugural run of the Vande Bharat service. Inclusion of the song of RSS, which always spreads religious hatred and divisive politics, in a government program is a violation of constitutional principles,” Vijayan said.

Satheesan said that “the inaugural run of the train witnessed the narrow politics of Sangh Parivar to divide people on the basis of religion and caste”

BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar hit back: “What exactly are you condemning, CM? That some children sang songs or that children sang songs they love or that children sang patriotic songs about their motherland? What exactly bothers you when children do what they are supposed to do – celebrate things that inspire them? How come a CM who took an oath on the Constitution be so disrespectful of children’s right to free speech?”