Pinarayi Vijayan
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday (May 29, 2026) said “Kerala is under no obligation to implement the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) agenda of singing the national song, Vande Mataram, in its entirety” at State functions. Mr Vijayan told a press conference that the convention required that only the first two stanzas of the song need be rendered at State functions, if at all. He said Kerala should “resist the Sangh Parivar’s divisive gambit to supplant the secular national anthem with Vande Mataram.”“Rendering of the national anthem requires citizens to rise from their seats and remain standing till the hymn ends. Vande Mataram requires no such gesture. The Treasury benches rose when the police band played the initial verses of the national song. The Opposition followed suit in respect to the general feeling in the House,” he said.Mr Vijayan noted that Vande Mataram was sung in its entirety at the swearing-in ceremony of the United Democratic Front (UDF) government. “The government possibly noticed and made amends by restricting the rendition, as mandated, to the initial verses”, he said.On ED raidsMr Vijayan said the Congress has “brazenly sided” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when the Central government subverted watchdog agencies, chief among them the Enforcement Directorate (ED), to politically target “non-Congress” Opposition leaders. “The Congress protests only when the Centre uses the ED and other agencies against its top leaders. It cheers ED raids on Other opposition figures, including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. When the ED arrested and incarcerated Kejriwal (on a complaint filed by the Delhi PCC president), Congress workers burst crackers and celebrated on the streets,” Mr. Vijayan said. Mr Vijayan noted that Mr Kejriwal, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader M K Stalin, and other INDIA bloc leaders had protested the ED raid on his house in Thiruvananthapuram early on Wednesday. (Emerging from his residence after the controversial ED search, Mr Vijayan had pointedly noted that the raid might have brought the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament, Rahul Gandhi, much cheer. He had also noted that Mr Gandhi had, throughout his campaign speeches during the Assembly elections, harped on the ED not arresting and jailing Mr Vijayan, alleging a covert deal between the Communist Party of India (CPI(M)) and the BJP.)Mr Vijayan said Chief Minister V D Satheesan was “the ideal person” to answer why the UDF was silent about the ED raid. He said the CPI(M) had insisted on “peaceful and democratic protests” when journalists queried Mr Vijayan about the attack on ED officials as they exited his house after the search. Mr Vijayan said the ED officials did not question him. He confirmed that the ED had frozen the bank account of his daughter, T. Veena, an IT entrepreneur. Mr Vijayan said he would shift residence to Cantonment House, the official residence of Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition. “Let the current resident (Mr Satheesan) find a new dwelling first”, he quipped. Published - May 29, 2026 03:37 pm IST
