The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) staged a protest at the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET), after the full version of Vande Mataram was sung during an event organised on the campus, as per a Mediaone Online report.
The incident took place during a ‘Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue’ programme organised as part of the National Service Scheme (NSS), in collaboration with the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports and APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU).
During the programme, an image of Bharat Mata was displayed on a screen, the full version of Vande Mataram was sung, and floral offerings were made before the image.
SFI activists objected to the manner in which the programme was conducted and the decision to sing the complete version of Vande Mataram. The protesters entered the stage and raised slogans, following which the programme was reportedly halted midway.
Kerala’s communist student wing is back to its favourite job:
> Policing what a Govt engineering college is allowed to hearAt CET Thiruvananthapuram, organisers played the full Vande Mataram instead of the usual NSS song 🇮🇳
That was enough for SFI to storm the programme,… pic.twitter.com/DCuuP6JGs0
— The Analyzer (News Updates🗞️) (@Indian_Analyzer) August 20, 2026
A student who attended the event as a delegate said the programme was essentially a seminar on India under the ‘Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue’ initiative and questioned the decision to sing the full version of Vande Mataram at such an event.
The student also alleged that organisers behaved inappropriately with students who came on stage as part of the programme and responded to their questions in an informal and discourteous manner.
Another allegation raised by SFI concerned the selection of students to provide feedback on the programme. SFI alleged that NSS organisers had asked for four students to give a review of the event and insisted that two of them should be Muslim female students wearing the headscarf.
SFI alleged that the incident was part of an attempt to promote what it described as a “Sangh Parivar agenda” on college campuses and said it would continue to protest against such efforts.
The immediate controversy reportedly began after the organisers chose to play the full rendition of Vande Mataram instead of the traditional NSS anthem, Manassu Namukkate. SFI members objected to the decision and subsequently disrupted the proceedings.
Following the protest at the venue, SFI representatives also demonstrated outside the principal’s office. Discussions between the student representatives and the college principal reportedly helped de-escalate the situation temporarily.
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