CHANDIGARH: The ruling AAP government in Punjab led by chief minister Bhagwant Mann has stirred up a hornet’s nest by including party (AAP) specific questions in examinations being conducted by the Punjab state education board.
Punjab BJP state media in-charge Vineet Joshi on Monday raised the red flag over AAP’s attempts to wrongly influence the minds of young voters with the inclusion of questions in examinations that evidently lead to answers that talk about policies and programs of the ruling AAP.
“This is a blatant misuse of power by the AAP. The state education department has been throttled into putting AAP specific questions in the political science examination held on March 4. The education department cannot act like a mouthpiece of the ruling establishment. Minds of youngsters, potential voters cannot be influenced using the crutches of the education department, ” Vineet Joshi said addressing a press conference here today.
Vineet Joshi exposed the ill-conceived designs of the ruling AAP while highlighting that the Punjab School Education Board's 12th examination held on March 4 included a question that asked about the establishment of Aam Aadmi Party in the political science paper. “The question in the first part of the paper sought to know when the Aam Aadmi Party was established. Similarly, a question in the other part of the paper asked students to describe the policies and programs of the Aam Aadmi Party, ” Joshi said.
Having faced a defeat in Lok Sabha elections in Punjab, followed by a defeat in Delhi and subsequently in the Panchayat elections, Joshi said the AAP’s move stems out of frustration. “After losing 10 out of 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, the AAP, which refrained from fielding candidates on its symbol in the Panchayat elections, suffered a huge defeat everywhere except Patiala city in the local body elections held a few days ago, ” he said, adding that not only did AAP lose Delhi in the assembly elections, its party supremo Arvind Kejriwal too lost his seat in the Delhi polls.