Bharat Mata row: Kerala govt vs Raj Bhavan stand-off hits the streets

The Raj Bhavan-Kerala government row over the contentious use of a saffron-flag-bearing image of Bharath Mata sitting astride a lion, arguably emblematic of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) notion of a Hindu Rashtra, at State events spilt onto the streets on Friday (June 20, 2025). 

General Education Minister V. Sivankutty re-ignited the simmering controversy on Thursday by walking out of an official function attended by Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlerkar at the Raj Bhavan, stating that political symbols had no place in constitutional offices or State events.

Raj Bhavan condemned the Minister’s boycott as violating protocol and insulting the Governor’s office. It also ruled out removing the picture from its central hall, the customary venue of official events. 

On Thursday night, the police stopped a set of Akhila Bharathiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) workers from storming Mr. Sivankutty’s official residence in the capital. 

Black flag protest by ABVP

However, unrest returned to the streets on Friday, with ABVP activists staging a black flag protest against Mr. Sivankutty near the Secretariat in the capital. The demonstration seemingly caught the police off-guard, who scuffled with ABVP workers and detained several of them.

Later, Mr. Sivankutty reiterated his position that the controversial image having pride of place on the wall of Raj Bhavan’s central hall was a heraldic device used by the RSS to “broadcast its Hindu majoritarian ideology.”

He said the picture’s overtly religious and schismatic imagery had no Constitutional sanctity or place in a secular polity. “It is not a national symbol like the Tricolour”, he said. 

Mr. Sivankutty accused Raj Bhavan of using RSS symbols, including the images of its past leaders, as political agitprop to depict secular and diverse India as a singularly Hindu nation. 

SFI march to Raj Bhavan

Later in the day, the police used water cannons and iron barricades to prevent a Students Federation of India (SFI) march from nearing Raj Bhavan’s gates, forcing the activists to stage a sit-in protest on the road. 

SFI State secretary P.S. Sanjeev accused Mr. Arlerkar of using the Governor’s residence as a bully pulpit to broadcast the RSS’ socially schismatic political agenda, which sought to relegate minorities and marginalised sections of society as subaltern citizens in an overwhelmingly Hindu polity defined by a revanchist caste hierarchy.

Mr. Sanjeev said Raj Bhavan was not the RSS’ bequest to the State. “It was sanctioned, funded and built by the people”, he said.

Earlier in June, Agriculture Minister P. Prasad had skipped the World Environment Day event at Raj Bhavan over the same issue. 

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had also condemned the use of political symbols, including that of the RSS, at official functions hosted by Raj Bhavan.