'Strict action...': Bihar minister on exam paper calling Kashmir a country

The Nitish Kumar government is facing heat following the incident after BJP alleged a conspiracy and demanded the union education ministry intervene.

Following controversy in Bihar about a Class 7 English exam presenting Kashmir and India as separate countries, rural development minister Shrawan Kumar said that the matter will be investigated. "... anyone responsible will be punished," he was quoted by news agency ANI.

In 2017 - when the BJP was in power - a similar question was asked. (ANI)

The Nitish Kumar government is facing heat following the incident - which happened in Kishanganj district - after the Bharatiya Janata Party - former allies of the ruling Janata Dal (United) alleged a conspiracy and demanded the union education ministry intervene.

As part of ongoing mid-term examinations for students till Class 8, the Class 7 English exam question paper asked, 'What are the people of the following countries called?" and offered one answer as an example. The paper cited China and Chinese as the example, and then asked the student to name nationalisties of people from Nepal, Kashmir, England and India.

"We got this via Bihar Education Board. The question had to ask what are people from Kashmir called? But, it is mistakenly carried as what are people of the country of Kashmir called? This was human error," SK Das, the head teacher of the school, told ANI.

BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal alleged a 'nefarious nexus of PFI supporters sitting in the government and RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal)'.

"To be asked in the districts of Seemanchal by the Bihar Education Project Council, what is a citizen of China, of England, of Nepal, of India and at the same time a citizen of Kashmir? This shows that there is a nefarious nexus of PFI supporters sitting in the government and PFI supporters of RJD," he tweeted.

In 2017 - when the BJP was in power - a similar question was asked.

(With agency inputs)