Overview
- Southern Railway posted a video from the Ernakulam–Bengaluru Vande Bharat inaugural run showing students singing, deleted it after criticism, and later reposted it with revised captioning.
- Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called the inclusion of an RSS anthem in an official event a violation of constitutional principles and an affront to secularism.
- Twenty students and two teachers from Saraswathi Vidyanikethan Public School in Kochi performed on board during the train’s maiden journey, which was flagged off virtually by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- The song’s identity is disputed, with critics calling it an RSS ‘Gana Geetham’ and the school asserting it is a patriotic Malayalam number titled “Paramapavitramathamie Mannil Bharathambaye Poojikkan.”
- The school principal wrote to the Prime Minister defending the rendition, Congress leaders and the DYFI demanded a probe and protested, and BJP figures defended the students while the Railways offered no detailed explanation beyond the repost.