B’desh question in CU pol science paper sparks debate
Times of India | 15 February 2025
Kolkata: The recent political developments in Bangladesh, including the students' movement and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ouster, that made their way into an undergraduate political science paper of Calcutta University sparked a controversy due to errors in the question.
The question in the political science fifth semester paper read: "Which Head of the State of a neighbouring state of India took political asylum in India in the year 2024?" The query was part of the paper that dealt with ‘Indian Foreign Policy in a Globalising World'. While the framing of the question started a debate, with a section of professors pointing at errors in the question, another section felt the larger objective was to check students' political awareness of current affairs, and that was served.
Former vice-chancellor and veteran professor of political science Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury said, "The question has two major mistakes. The head of the state in Bangladesh is its president, Mohammed Shahabuddin. Sheikh Hasina was the head of the govt. Also, while the question states political asylum, India has not granted any asylum to Hasina yet. Such errors can mislead students and are unacceptable." Pradipta Mukherjee, a political analyst, concurred. "India did not grant political asylum to Hasina. It is important to determine whether this was simply an error or intentionally false information was provided to see what the students write," he said.
However, CU political science professor Samir Kumar Das considered it a "simple" matter-of-fact general knowledge question, the answer to which did not require vast knowledge of political transition in Bangladesh, but he was not satisfied with the term ‘political asylum'. "If ‘political asylum' has been used to frame the question, then it is necessary to consider whether it aligns appropriately with our country's diplomatic parlance," he added.
A member of the UG board of studies said there might be a discussion going on among the teaching community, but there had been no written communication yet. "Among three sets of questions, one is finalised. So if a mistake was reported, it would have been scrutinised at a meeting," the member said.