Thiruvananthapuram: The Keralam Assembly witnessed unfortunate protocol breaches on May 29. Firstly, the truncated version of Vande Mataram was played before and after the Governor’s policy declaration address. It is a gross and flagrant breach of protocol set by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on January 28, 2026. It is to be remembered that the full text of Vande Mataram was played during the swearing-in of Chief Minister V. D. Satheeshan and his ministerial colleagues on May 18. Later on, the Chief Minister expressed his displeasure with it. He stated that the entire programme was scheduled by Lok Bhavan and the Governor.
The Governor expressed his disapproval while talking to the mediamen. BJP criticised the Satheeshan government for playing a truncated version of Vande Mataram. V. Muraleedharan MLA came down heavily on the Satheeshan regime for insulting the Rashtra Geet.
Another violation was the presence of the State Police Chief, Ravada A Chandrasekhar on the house floor, along with the Governor. When the anomaly was pointed out by the Chief Minister, the Police chief left the floor.
Addressing the press, Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan said, there is no protocol breach in playing the truncated Vande Mataram. He went to the extent of stating that there is no need to stand up while the Rashtra Geet is played. He pointed out that the presence of the Director General of Police on the floor was a protocol breach.
Satheeshan once again proved that he is afraid of the diktats of the Islamic fundamentalists and the CPM and the CPM-led Left Democratic Front, hence instructed to play the truncated Vande Mataram. This is the hint of what is going to happen in the days to come.
