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Himanta Sarma hits back at Arvind Kejriwal over Assam paper leak: 'Lying or...'
Himanta Biswa Sarma reacted to Arvind Kejriwal's critical comments on the recent question paper leak in the northeastern state.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma reacted to his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal's critical comments on the recent question paper leak in the northeastern state and claimed that the Class 12 English paper in Punjab, which also has an Aam Aadmi Party government, had leaked and the examination was cancelled.
“It was most surprising when Mr Kejriwal claimed there is no question paper leak in Punjab. Either he is lying or he is ignorant. Few weeks back, the 12th class board exams in Punjab had to be cancelled because of a question paper leak,” Sarma tweeted on Sunday while sharing a video clip of his press conference where he referred to a news report by Hindustan Times with a headline Punjab School Education Board cancels Class 12 English exam after ‘paper leak’.
In February, the Punjab School Education Board had cancelled the Class 12 English examination amid reports that the question paper had been leaked minutes before the examination was to begin at 2pm.
In a release, PSEB controller of examination Janak Raj Mehrok said that the exam was to be conducted from 2pm to 5.15pm but had been cancelled due to administrative reasons.
Addressing the gathering at the AAP’s first mega political conclave in Guwahati on Sunday, Kejriwal said, “How Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government will function in the state where there are incidents of question paper leak? I have been running the Delhi government for years; Bhagwant Mann is running the government in Punjab for the last one year, there are no such paper leak incidents in these two states.”
Kejriwal claimed that incidents of paper leaks come up only when some insiders are involved in such scandals. “There are people who sell question papers to students, else, how will a question paper get leaked? Papers cannot fly themselves, right?" alleged the AAP national convenor.
Sarma had earlier accepted the leak of the science question paper of the Class 10 state board exams was his government’s failure.
“...it shows our failure in some way and as the chief minister I accept responsibility for that,” Sarma had told the assembly after the budget presentation.
The science exam was rescheduled for March 30 after the leak. It was earlier scheduled on March 13. Student organisations have been protesting across Assam demanding the resignation of education minister Ranoj Pegu and exam board chairman RC Jain.
On Sunday, Sarma also downplayed Kejriwal’s promise of free electricity if AAP came to power in Assam, asserting that the northeastern state has the ‘Orunudoi’ scheme under which the government credits ₹1,400 per month in the bank accounts of economically backward families.
“Waiving only the electricity bill would have been cheaper for us,” he said.
The Assam CM has called Kejriwal a “coward” whose “heroism” is confined within the assembly. Sarma criticised Kejriwal for not making any reference in his speech to allegations of corruption against the BJP leader, which he had reportedly made in the Delhi Assembly.
