Kerala Vande Mataram row erupts after Onam
A controversy over the singing of Vande Mataram has reignited in Kerala following a government-sponsored Onam pageant.
A political dispute over the national song Vande Mataram has resurfaced in Kerala. The controversy followed a full, six-stanza rendition of the song at the conclusion of the state government's Onam week pageantry on August 31, 2026.
According to a report from The Hindu, the song was performed by a choir as the festivities ended. Vice-President C.P. Radhakrishnan had flagged off the colourful procession from a VIP podium in front of the Lok Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram the previous evening. Governor Rajendra Arlekar, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan, and Tourism Minister P.C. Vishnunadh were also present on the dais.
Protocol versus politics
This event marked a notable shift. It contrasted with the Kerala government's earlier decision not to sing Vande Mataram in full during the official Independence Day celebrations on August 15. Local Self-Government Minister K M Shaji addressed the discrepancy. He told reporters that the protocol for the Onam event was set by the Vice-President's office. The state government, he argued, lacked the authority to alter etiquette established for high constitutional offices.
Shaji emphasized that Vande Mataram is not sung in full, if at all, during the state government's own official functions. Tourism Minister P.C. Vishnunadh echoed this defense, attributing the song's inclusion to established protocol.
CPI(M) accusations of ideological alignment
The opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) rejected the protocol defense. CPI(M) State secretary M V Govindan launched a sharp critique. He accused the ruling Congress party of "playing second fiddle to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)'s project to build a civilisational polity defined by Hindutva ideology." Govindan claimed this project seeks to relegate minorities and marginalized groups to a subaltern status.
He pointed to the Congress's own actions, noting the party had no issue with a full rendition of the song at its All India Congress Committee headquarters in New Delhi on Independence Day. Govindan also criticized the AICC leadership for disregarding a 1937 Congress Working Committee decision. That decision limited renditions of Vande Mataram to its first two lines, based on the premise that later stanzas contain overt Hindu religious imagery.
Govindan concluded that the Kerala government's "latest acquiescence to the RSS's Hindutva agenda has yet again pulled the veil back on the Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party covert ideological and political axis."
A 'convenient pretext'
Other CPI(M) leaders joined the criticism. Former Education Minister and party State Committee member V Sivankutty dismissed the protocol argument. In a Facebook post, he called protocol "a perfect foil" for the UDF government to facilitate the RSS's agenda. "Protocol is a convenient pretext to swirl dandas (staff used by RSS workers for customary martial training), polish shoes and sing songs", he quipped.
The dispute centers on the symbolic weight of the national song's later stanzas. The political argument continues over whether its full performance represents a breach of secular government practice or merely the following of official procedure for visiting dignitaries. The holiday crowds on M.G. Road witnessed a procession that has now sparked a fresh ideological debate.
