Kerala students get 'pro-Left' questions

The question paper for “political science” examination scheduled for Saturday in the ongoing half-yearly examinations was withdrawn in a huff on Tuesday after it found its way to the media. Here are the questions.

1. Describe the hidden agenda of the P V Narasimha Rao government which remained inactive when Babri masjid was razed to the ground.

2. Describe in your own words how the Emergency declaration by Indira Gandhi helped the Congress party politically. If so, why was the Congress thrown out of power in the 1977 elections?

3. Describe the growth and development of the communist parties in India. Describe the circumstances leading to the CPM-CPI split?

It was the pro-Left Kerala State Teachers Association which prepared the question paper. The KSTA itself took the initiative to withdraw the paper now, fearing a backlash. This was because of a controversial question on the recently deceased Mercy Ravi, wife of Union minister for overseas affairs Vayalar Ravi, which appeared in last week’s ‘English’ paper.

The question had asked the students to write a letter to the Editor of a leading Malayalam daily expressing their view that the coverage given for Mercy Ravi’s death was too much. The pro-UDF Government State Teachers Union said this was not the first time that textbooks and question papers were used by the pro-Left organisations to propagate their ideology.