Congress walks out from MP Assembly on Board exam paper row

Bhopal, March 10: Opposition Congress on the third consecutive day on Thursday, March 10 created a furore and walked out of the House after Speaker Sitasaran Sharma turned down their plea for a debate on the adjournment motion over a question in Class 12 Board exam Hindi paper which had an essay on 'caste-based reservation posing danger to the country'.

As soon as the Question Hour ended and Zero Hour was to start, Congress member Ramniwas Rawat asked the Chair for a debate on the controversial question in the Hindi exam paper held on March 5.

MP Legislative Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra told the House that action has been taken against paper setter and moderator for goof-up. He said the government has taken proper action on the issue.

Furthermore, the Minister said that Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Dipak Khandekar will carry out an inquiry into the issue. Dissatisfied by the answer, Rawat said that the matter was serious and the Minister's reply was wishy-washy.

He said that lower ranking officials have been made scapegoats on the issue. Rawat said that a system was in place for setting and conducting examinations of Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education and wondered how such a blunder took place.

The treasury and Opposition benches traded allegations over the issue. Speaker Sharma said that the Minister has given a reply on the issue and an ACS was carrying out a probe into it. He said that there was no point for a debate on the issue.

After this, the Opposition members led by acting Leader of Opposition Bala Bachchan walked out of the House in protest.

PTI