In his letter to PM Modi, the school’s principal, Dinto K.P. pointed out that Southern Railway’s official X handle deleted the post “after 2 Malayalam news channels, 24 News, and Media 1, criticised the song as being associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.”
Amid the raging row over an “RSS song” sung by students at a Vande Bharat launch event in Kerala on Saturday, the school, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, clarified that it was a patriotic Malayalam number titled “Paramapavitramathamie Mannil Bharathambaye Poojikkan” and contained no words challenging the secular fabric or national unity of the country.
The letter ended by asking whether the students were wrong to sing a patriotic song. “Our humble question is: Can’t our children sing a patriotic song that praises our motherland? Such actions discourage the spirit of nationalism among young minds.”
In his letter to PM Modi, the school’s principal, Dinto K.P. pointed out that Southern Railway’s official X handle deleted the post “after 2 Malayalam news channels, 24 News, and Media 1, criticised the song as being associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.”
The school went on to highlight that while parents, students, and staff “felt immensely proud,” the removal of the tweet from Southern Railway’s official X account had “deeply saddened our students, staff, parents, and well-wishers.”
“The song contains no words or sentiments against secularism or national unity. It only expresses reverence towards Bharat Mata and pride in our nation,” the letter to the PM further read.
However, in an edited tweet on Saturday evening, Southern Railway posted a video of the students singing, saying, “The students of Saraswathi Vidyalaya beautifully performed their school song during the inaugural run of the Ernakulam–Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express.”
Earlier, Kerala’s ruling CPM and the opposition Congress came down heavily over the incident, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan calling the move “highly condemnable” and “a blatant violation of constitutional principles.”
Following Vijayan’s attack, senior Congress leader KC Venugopal said that he had written to the Railway Minister, demanding an explanation for why school students were asked to sing the RSS song at the launch event.
“A public event was converted into an RSS function and the Southern Railway’s official X handle proudly shared this as well. This is a blatant misuse of Indian Railways, a national institution that belongs to every citizen, not any divisive ideology,” he said.
