Who was the founder of the Jan Sangh? Who conceptualised Integral Humanism? Which political leader was born on December 25? Write a note on Swarnim Madhya Pradesh.
These questions figured in a written examination conducted by the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication in Bhopal on May 30.
The Congress thinks the questions and their answers?Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in that order?smack of the ideology of the RSS and the party in power. The last descriptive question relates to the pet project of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has set seven priorities under the Golden Madhya Pradesh project.
The questions figured in a test for the post of ?Placement Assistant? in which more than 125 candidates appeared, most of them contractual employees of the university set up by an act of the MP Assembly in 1990. Though the day-to-day affairs are taken care of by the university officials like the vice-chancellor and the registrar, the larger administrative control remains with the state government?s directorate of public relations. The chief minister is the ex-officio chairman of the governing council, which selects the vice-chancellor.
The question paper involved 50 objective questions and 50 descriptive questions the candidates were expected to answer in the accompanying blank space. Alleging that these and other questions promoted a particular ideology, Congress spokesman KK Mishra demanded action against V-C BK Kuthiala who, he alleged, owed his appointment to his RSS background.
Prof Kuthiala said that the paper was chosen randomly from four papers set by four journalists in keeping with the confidentiality clause. ?Why can?t these questions be part of general knowledge? Is RSS not part of society?? He also wondered why the Congress was opposed to a question like ?who was the founder of the Banaras Hindu University??