Suvendu Adhikari threatens to cut school aid over refusal to sing full Vande Mataram

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari threatened to cut off schools' financial aid and other institutional support if they do not comply with the mandatory singing of the full version of the Vande Mataram. Addressing the annual programme of Vivekananda Vidyabharati Vikas Parishad, an RSS- affiliated organisation at the Ramkrishna Mission in Kolkata's Golpark, Adhikari alleged that the state's education system had been "brought to the brink of destruction" under successive governments in the past. He emphasised that the directive applies universally, extending to government-run, aided, private, and madrasa institutions across the state.

"A few people had objected to singing the complete rendition of Vande Mataram. I told them that government aid would stop. Then they budged, but only partially. They stood up, but did not move lips. Then I told them that lips must move as well," said Subhendu Adhikari.

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“The name of former state minister Partha Chatterjee, an accused in school recruitment scam, was included, while the names of freedom fighters such as Khudiram Bose and Matangini Hazra were difficult to find in textbooks,” he alleged.

He accused the Left Front of curtailing English-language education and the TMC of distorting school curricula through "appeasement politics". He claimed that words such as 'maa', 'jal' and 'akash' in school curricula were intentionally replaced with 'amma', 'pani', and 'asmaan' in textbooks under past administrations, which he thinks was against the ideals of stalwarts like Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and Swami Vivekananda. Adhikari also criticised previous governments for banning the National Cadet Corps in educational institutions.