Cong sees red over BJP’s saffron quiz in UP

THE QUIZ SHOW HAS SPARKED A STORM WITH CONGRESS ASKING THE BJP TO ORDER A PROBE TO FIND OUT WHO ’KILLED’ UPADHYAYA

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is organising a first-of-its-kind quiz across schools and colleges in Uttar Pradesh to ‘test’ students on their knowledge of saffron ideologues and schemes introduced by the Centre and the UP government.

The quiz, ostensibly being organised as part of the birth centenary year celebrations of BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya, has sparked a storm, with the Congress asking the BJP to order a probe to find out who “killed” Upadhyaya.

The query has a context. The 70-page booklet released by BJP president Amit Shah titled ‘Samanya Gyan Pratiyogita-2017’, which is being distributed in schools and colleges as ‘preparatory material’ for the quiz, has a query relating to Upadhyaya’s death.

The question is: “Do you know who was the Prime Minister of the country when Deendayal Upadhyaya died?”

The answer is – “Indira Gandhi”.

Criticising the BJP’s attempts to “saffronise education and impressionable minds”, former Congress lawmaker Akhilesh Pratap Singh said: “The quiz is being organised in the name of Deendayalji whose body was found on a railway track on February 1968 at Mughalsarai station in UP. Despite a CBI inquiry, his death remains a mystery with some even claiming he was murdered. Why doesn’t the BJP government at the Centre order a probe into it?”

Singh was hinting at conspiracy theories about Upadhyaya’s death, including one flagged by former Jan Sangh leader Balraj Madhok who quit politics following differences with the faction led by former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

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