The Left student outfits in Kerala accused the Congerss-led UDF government of "aligning with the Sangh Parivar agenda" after a school quiz question allegedly praising V D Savarkar triggered a political row.
The disputed question, prepared for the Freedom Quiz conducted by the education department for lower primary school students, asked: "Who is the freedom fighter that received the most severe punishment from the British?" The answer was given as V D Savarkar.
According to reports, teachers in charge of the Social Science Club Association had prepared the questionnaire.
As the issue snowballed into a controversy, state General Education Minister N Samsudheen on Saturday sought a report from the Director of General Education on the quiz conducted in schools in Kumbla and Manjeshwaram sub-districts of northern Kasaragod.
The controversy erupted after Left student outfits alleged that the question portrayed Savarkar, a Hindutva ideologue and one of the accused in the conspiracy surrounding Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, as a freedom fighter.
The Students' Federation of India (SFI), the students' wing of opposition CPI (M), alleged that the UDF government and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a key ally in the ruling UDF, were attempting to give the Sangh Parivar a role in the country's freedom struggle.
He alleged that a quiz for students in Kasaragod district had presented the "main conspirator in Gandhi's assassination" as a freedom fighter.
"The League's anti-Sangh Parivar stand was exposed as a fraud through the PM SHRI issue itself. The League is neither anti-Sangh nor does it have any stand. What they have is only business interests and hunger for power," Sanjeev alleged.
(With inputs from PTI)
