Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar expressed strong displeasure with the incomplete rendition of Vande Mataram during the opening session of the 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly. He emphasized that established official protocol dictates singing or playing the national song in its entirety whenever the Governor is present.
On Friday, ahead of the Governor’s policy address to the newly elected House, the Kerala Police brass band played only the opening two stanzas of Vande Mataram, skipping the full version.
Speaking to reporters on Friday at Lok Bhavan, after returning from the state Assembly, the Governor flagged the incident as a clear protocol violation. He clarified that his staff had explicitly insisted on the full rendition beforehand, and he has raised the issue with the Assembly Speaker to seek a resolution. He said in the Assembly that the song was only played, not sung.
Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan countered by stating that singing the complete version is not mandatory under any law enacted by the Parliament. He added that only general guidelines exist, not statutory mandates.
The UDF government’s decision to trim the song stems from an earlier political storm during the Cabinet swearing-in ceremony on 18 May 2026. At that event, the song was played in full following Raj Bhavan’s instructions. This triggered severe backlash from the Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF), which accused Satheesan of capitulating to the Sangh Parivar. This prompted the government to switch to the shorter version for the Assembly session.
While the BJP has heavily slammed the UDF government for “insulting the national song” and allegedly bowing down to pressure from the CPM and Jamaat-e-Islami, former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Left leaders maintain that there is historically no requirement to sing the song in its entirety at such functions.
