Overview
- Southern Railway posted, deleted, and later reposted with an English translation a video of Kerala schoolchildren singing a Malayalam song identified by critics as linked to the RSS during Saturday’s Ernakulam–Bengaluru Vande Bharat inaugural run.
- Kerala’s General Education Minister V. Sivankutty directed the Director of General Education to submit a report, saying any politicisation of children at government events would violate constitutional principles.
- Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leaders condemned the inclusion of the song at an official function and sought accountability from the Railways.
- The school’s principal said Railways did not choose the song, a TV crew requested a Malayalam number, and students sang voluntarily; the school wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Railway Minister after the video was briefly removed.
- Union ministers Suresh Gopi and George Kurian defended the performance as patriotic, the Railway’s repost framed it likewise, and the inquiry is underway with no findings yet; reports said about 20 students and two teachers took part in the inaugural run.