Amid the Opposition’s allegations that the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Kerala was toeing the Sangh Parivar’s line after the Chief Secretary’s directive to government departments to ensure the recital of ‘Vande Mataram’ in its entirety during the Independence Day celebrations, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan has said the State government has “its own stand on the issue, which will be clear to everyone on Independence Day”.

Speaking to the media after the Cabinet meeting on Thursday (August 13, 2026), Mr. Satheesan did not explicitly state that Vande Mataram will not be sung in its entirety, though press persons raised questions on the confusion that has arisen due to the Chief Secretary’s directive.

Instructions were reportedly issued in some schools and institutions mandating that the song be sung in full.

“The Chief Secretary’s directions were related to the Union government’s Har Ghar Tiranga campaign. The Parliament has now passed a Bill making intentional insult to Vande Mataram a punishable offence with jail term up to three years. It mandates that the song be sung in full. The President has also given assent to the Act. However, the Congress-led UDF has a clear stand on this. We will act only as per that,” he said.

As per the directive signed by Chief Secretary Bishwanath Sinha on August 6, the Union Ministry of Culture had on July 14, 2026 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 states 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.

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

Published - August 13, 2026 01:15 pm IST