Pinarayi Vijayan accuses the UDF government of opening the door for the RSS to indoctrinate school children
Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan has accused the Kerala government of allowing the RSS to indoctrinate school children by including a controversial question about V.D. Savarkar in a state-sponsored quiz. Critics argue the question whitewashes Savarkar's role in the independence movement and promotes a Hindu majoritarian agenda.
Why it matters
The incident reflects ongoing political tensions in India regarding the interpretation of history and the influence of ideological groups in public education.
Leader of the Opposition, Pinarayi Vijayan , on Saturday (August 8, 2026), accused the Congress -led United Democratic Front (UDF) government of opening the door for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to indoctrinate impressionable young children in profoundly divisive nationalistic ideology.
Mr. Vijayan told a press conference in Kannur that the UDF government had callously allowed a politically loaded question whitewashing RSS ideologue V.D. Savarkar’s “treacherous role” in the Independence Struggle.
Mr. Vijayan’s latest foray against the government came against the backdrop of a controversial question that figured in the “Freedom Quiz” programme for students in lower primary schools in the Manjeshwar, Kumbla and Kasargod educational sub-districts in North Kerala.
The question ostensibly sought to test the historical knowledge of children by asking “which freedom fighter received the most punishment from the British. The “answer key” identified the “freedom fighter” as V.D. Savarkar.
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