A video shared by Southern Railway showing school students singing a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh song during the inaugural run of the Ernakulam-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express on Saturday has sparked a political controversy in Kerala.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the Railways was being used to “ sneak communal ideology into official functions ”, while Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan called it “ unacceptable ” that a national event had not been spared from “saffronisation”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, accused the chief minister of disrespecting “ children’s right to free speech” .

Twenty students and two teachers from Saraswathi Vidyanikethan Public School in Kochi were among those who joined the inaugural run of the train on Saturday, which Prime Mini

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