Thiruvananthapuram: One of the four Vande Bharat train services flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday ran into controversy.
After Southern Railway posted a video of school students singing an RSS song on board the newly-inaugurated Vande Bharat Express train from Ernakulam to Bengaluru, a political row broke out over using children at government events.
On Sunday, the Kerala government ordered a probe into the reported act of Southern Railway making school students sing the RSS song on the train.
General Education Minister V Sivankutty instructed the Director of Public Instructions (DPI) to immediately conduct an inquiry and submit a report, reported PTI.
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
“Politicising children at government events and using them to promote the communal agenda of any particular group is a violation of constitutional principles,” Sivankutty said, adding that the state government views the incident with utmost seriousness.
The inquiry will examine whether there was any lapse in making students participate in the official event, and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings in the report, the minister asserted.
“The government has a responsibility to uphold the secular and national values of the country, and steps will be taken to ensure that these principles are protected,” Sivankutty stated.
Condemning the incident of making children sing an RSS song, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that it deserves to be protested.
He had said that making the song of RSS, which allegedly constantly spreads anti-religious hatred and communal divisive politics, in the official programme of the government is a violation of constitutional principles.
Sangh Parivar using the country’s largest public sector undertaking, the Railways, for spreading their alleged communal political propaganda is unacceptable, Vijayan added.
V D Satheesan, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, echoed similar views, saying that making students sing the RSS song as part of a government programme was “illegal and undemocratic”.
Union minister’s justification
Union Minister of state for Petroleum, Natural Gas & Tourism Suresh Gopi justified the students singing the RSS song as it was part of “innocent celebration” of children.
“They felt like singing that song at the moment and they did so. Anyway, it’s not an extremist song,” the Union minister said in Thrisoor.
The Southern Railway reportedly withdrew the social media post following widespread criticism on Saturday. However, Southern Railway again posted the video of the song by students along with its English translation on X.
“The students of Saraswathi Vidyalaya beautifully performed their school song during the inaugural run of the Ernakulam Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express,” it said in the post.