Kerala Govt Orders Probe into RSS Song on Vande Bharat

General Education Minister V Sivankutty has directed the Director of Public Instructions (DPI) to investigate and submit a report in this regard. In the statement made by the minister’s office, Sivankutty said that the government is taking the incident extremely seriously.

He said bringing children into politics at government events and using them to promote the social agenda of any group was a violation of constitutional principles.

“The Director of Public Instruction (DPI) has been directed to immediately conduct an investigation and submit a report,” he said.

Stating that the investigation will examine whether there are any deficiencies in the students’ participation in the official event, the official added that the necessary measures will be taken according to the findings in the report.

Sivankutty added that the government has the responsibility to protect the secular and national values ​​of the country and steps will be taken to ensure that these principles are protected.

However, Union Minister Suresh Gopi on Sunday justified students singing RSS song on the newly opened train. This was part of the innocent celebrations of children, he told reporters in Thrissur.

“They felt at that moment to sing this song and they did it. Anyway, this is not an extremist song,” the union official responsible for oil, gas and tourism added.

The investigation launched on the orders of the state government and the union minister’s justification came a day after a group of students singing an RSS song on the newly opened Vande Bharat Express sparked harsh reactions in Kerala.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday condemned Southern Railway’s reported action, saying it deserved to be protested.

He had said that the inclusion of the song of the RSS, which is alleged to have been constantly spreading anti-religious hatred and social divisive policies, in the government’s official program was a violation of constitutional principles.

The CM said it was unacceptable that the Sangh Parivar was using the Railways, the country’s largest public sector undertaking, to spread so-called social political propaganda.

Leader of Opposition in Parliament VD Satheesan had also spoken in the same vein and said that making students sing RSS song under the government program was “illegal and undemocratic”.

He claimed that the BJP was trying to implement the politics of division seen in North India in Kerala.

It was earlier reported that Southern Railways withdrew the social media post following widespread criticism against it.

Later on Sunday, Southern Railway re-released the video of the song prepared by the students on social media platform ‘X’ along with its English translation.

The caption ‘X’ said, “Students of Saraswathi Vidyalaya performed their school songs beautifully during the inauguration ceremony of Ernakulam Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express.”