'TMC will go to court against UPSC's move to set 'politically-motivated' questions'

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress (TMC) has decided to move court against UPSC's decision to set a question paper, in which it asked candidates to write reports on politically-motivated subjects, said Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, TMC MP, on Tuesday.

"We have already said all the autonomous institutions have been politicised by BJP. We will move to court following the decision to set such question papers which triggered political controversy. It might be an opinion of a party, but in a competitive examination question paper cannot be set based on a political party's opinion. A debate can be held on these issues," said Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Trinamool MP.

Generally, the questions that could trigger a political controversy are not usually asked in this kind of competitive examination.

The examination was conducted to recruit assistant commandants of CAPF. While question 3 asked the candidates to write a report on 'poll-violence in Bengal', question 2 asked candidates to write arguments for and against the topic, 'farmer protests are politically

motivated.'

Even candidates are being asked to write essays on how party politics is a flourishing business in India. According to the sources in the Trinamool Congress, the questions had created flutter among the candidates and Opposition parties claimed that the questions were politically motivated.

According to former IPS officer Ardhendu Sen, the Centre is setting a bad precedent by trying to control the autonomous bodies.

"The Election Commission has already been controlled by the government and now they are trying to control UPSC too. The idea for setting such a question paper is to look at the candidate's view point and based on their view point the selection will be held. If any candidate writes in favour of them, they will get priority in the selection process, rather than those candidates who have an opposite view on these issues,"

added Sen.