Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Condemns Southern Railway for Allegedly Making Students Sing RSS Song at Vande Bharat Inauguration
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has strongly condemned the Southern Railway’s alleged action of making students sing an RSS ‘Ganageetham’ (song) during the inauguration of the Ernakulam – Bengaluru Vande Bharat service. The Chief Minister took to Facebook to express his disapproval, stating that incorporating an RSS song, which he described as continuously disseminating inter-religious hatred and communal divisive politics, into an official government program constitutes a blatant violation of constitutional principles.
In his detailed Facebook post, Chief Minister Vijayan elaborated, “The action of the Southern Railway in making students sing an RSS ‘Ganageetham’ during the inauguration of the Ernakulam – Bengaluru Vande Bharat service is highly deplorable. Including an RSS song, which continuously disseminates inter-religious hatred and communal divisive politics, in an official government program is a violation of constitutional principles. It is unacceptable that the Sangh Parivar is using even the country’s largest public sector undertaking, the Indian Railways, for its communal political propaganda.”
He further criticized the Southern Railway for sharing the ‘Ganageetham’ on social media, labelling it a “patriotic song.” According to Vijayan, this act not only made the Southern Railway a subject of public ridicule but also denigrated the Indian national movement. “The railway, which served as a cornerstone of India’s secular nationalism during the freedom struggle, is now sheltering the communal agenda of the RSS, which betrayed the freedom movement,” he asserted.
Chief Minister Vijayan concluded by stating that the Vande Bharat inauguration ceremony revealed a “surreptitious introduction of extremist Hindutva politics.” He attributed this to a “narrow political mindset, aimed at undermining secularism,” and urged all sections of the public to recognize this attempt and raise their protests against it.