CBSE asks question on Gujarat riots in exam, issues clarification

A question, “Under which government did the ‘anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 take place” was asked in a CBSE paper.

The multiple-choice question was asked in a sociology exam paper for 12th standard students on Wednesday. The four options offered for the question were a) Congress, b) BJP, c) Congress or d) Republican.

The answer to the above question would be option b, the BJP which was led by then chief minister of Gujarat Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The CBSE headquarters Twitter handle responded to the specific question and stated that it was an error. The tweet read, “A question has been asked in today’s class 12 sociology Term 1 exam which is inappropriate and in violation of the CBSE guidelines for external subject experts for setting question papers. CBSE acknowledges the error made and will take strict action against the responsible persons.”

While it is unclear what guidelines of CBSE were violated and what the terms “inappropriate” and “strict action” means, it is worth noting that this isn’t the first time an unfair strain of censorship has been placed on the Indian system of education.