Hours after a question on Gujarat 2002 Muslim genocide was asked in the CBSE’s Sociology test Wednesday in the Term 1 Board Exams for Class 12, the Board apologised for it, called it “inappropriate,” and promised “strict action” against “responsible persons.”
Here is the question: “The unprecedented scale and spread of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 took place under which government?”
Under which given options were congress, democratic, BJP, and Republican. Students had to select the right option and encircle it in the OMR sheet.
Soon after the exam, CBSE issued a public statement calling the question to be against its guidelines.
“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,” said CBSE.
It went on to say: “The CBSE guidelines for paper setters clearly state that they have to ensure the questions should be academic oriented only and should not touch upon domains that could harm sentiments of people based on social and political choices.”
Though CBSE says the question is “inappropriate and in violation of the CBSE guidelines,” the question appears to have been picked from a paragraph under the chapter, ‘The Challenges of Cultural Diversity’, in the NCERT Class 12 Sociology textbook, ‘Indian Society.’
“How did it violate guidelines, It is a direct question from “NCERT Class 12 Sociology – Chapter 6 page no.134 second last para?” a user asks, sharing the photo of the textbook.
“No region has been wholly exempt from communal violence of one kind or another. Every religious community has faced this violence in greater or lesser degree, although the proportionate impact is far more traumatic for minority communities. To the extent that governments can be held responsible for communal riots, no government or ruling party can claim to be blameless in this regard. In fact, the two most traumatic contemporary instances of communal violence occurred under each of the major political parties. The anti-Sikh riots of Delhi in 1984 took place under a Congress regime. The unprecedented scale and spread of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 took place under a BJP government,” read the paragraph, on page 134 under the sub-section, “The Nation-State and Religion-Related Issues and Identities.”
“This is a factual question. The CM who oversaw the pogrom in 2002 is PM now. Where’s the error, CBSE?” asks AIMIM chief and MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
Owaisi tweeted: “Thousands lost their lives in Gujarat. No person of conscience should ever forget such acts of mass violence. If the next generation doesn’t learn from the past; it’ll be “condemned to repeat it.”
About 3000 Muslims are killed. Some 20,000 Muslim homes and businesses and 360 places of worship are destroyed, and roughly 150,000 people are displaced during the 2002 Muslim genocide in Gujarat.
