The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Kerala has yet again found itself at the centre of allegations over toeing the Sangh Parivar’s line after the Chief Secretary’s recent directive asking government departments to ensure the recital of Vande Mataram in its entirety during the Independence Day celebrations, as per the Union government’s instructions.

Even as the Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) lashed out at the UDF government for “surrendering completely” to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)’s agenda, the Ministers of the ruling front — including those from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) — found it hard to defend the order.

The Chief Minister’s office is yet to make an official reaction. The Vande Mataram controversy is the latest in a series of decisions of the UDF government, which have been criticised for following a pro-Sangh Parivar line.

As per the directive signed by Chief Secretary Bishwanath Sinha on August 6, the Union Ministry of Culture had on July 14 communicated that the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign will be observed this year from August 9 to 17. The campaign has been integrated with the third phase of the nationwide commemoration of the 150 years of Vande Mataram.

Accordingly, all physical celebrations during this period have to combine the collective singing of Vande Mataram with the hoisting of the National Flag. The letter further says that the “instructions of the Government of India for recitation of Vande Mataram will be followed in full”.

The Local Self Government department and the General Education Department are the nodal departments for the programme. However, an earlier circular issued by the General Administration Department on August 4 does not make any mention of Vande Mataram recital as part of Independence Day celebrations.  

In February this year, the Union government had made it mandatory to play or sing the full song at all government events. On July 30, the Parliament passed amid the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, making intentional insult to Vande Mataram a punishable offence.

Singing Vande Mataram in full ‘against secular spirit’

Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan said that singing the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram was not wrong, but the song in its entirety goes against the secular spirit of the country. The later stanzas of the song refer to deities of a specific religion.

“The Constituent Assembly and leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru was of the opinion that only the first two stanzas need to be sung. This has remained so until the swearing in of the current UDF government when it was sung in full. Despite the widespread criticism against that, the government has now issued such an order. The UDF government has completely surrendered itself to the RSS agenda,” Mr. Vijayan alleged.

CPI(M) Central Committee member T.M. Thomas Isaac said that even though in a federal system States might sometimes be forced to follow central directives, the State should at least make a mark of protest.

CPI(M) State Secretary M.V.Govindan said that the latest order promulgated has further reinforced the public perception that the UDF government has mutated into an ideological proxy for the Hindutva agenda-driven Union government. He said that the Constituent Assembly had concluded that the final four stanzas of Vande Mataram had a pronouncedly Hindu-majoritarian tint that could potentially undermine national unity and should be best avoided.

He also accused the IUML of supplicantly falling in line with the UDF government’s soft-hindutva political line without the whimper of a protest.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said that he was unaware of the directive, while Health Minister K. Muraleedharan said that only two stanzas of Vande Mataram will be sung in the State government’s events. 

IUML stance

IUML leaders appeared to take divergent stands on the issue. Education Minister N. Shamsudheen claimed that the State government had nothing to with the directive. The Chief Secretary had to issue such a directive as per directions from the Lok Bhavan.

Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty said that the IUML has never sung Vande Mataram in full. “Our policy is similar to the stand taken by the Congress at the national level. I will speak about the legal aspects of this after speaking to the CM,” he said.