How students 'copying' in exams became an issue for the BJP in the early 90s

The News Minute | March 20, 2015 | 7:04 p.m. ISTOn Thursday, the internet and our TV screens flashed images of parents and family members of children in Hajipur, Bihar risking life and limb while climbing up multiple floors to deliver answer chits to their acquainted examinees.While Hajipur is barely 12km from the state’s capital city of Patna, it is an overnight journey away from Bihar’s adjoining state of Uttar Pradesh, which has had its own share of such problems in the past.At one point of time, the problem of students copying was so severe that the government brought a law to curb it.According to an India Today report, the BJP government in U.P. had enacted the Anti-copying Act in 1992 to curb the practice of “mass-cheating”. The education minister of the state during that period, Rajnath Singh, currently the Home Minister, was credited with the legislation.The Act made “copying” a cognizable offence which was non-bailable and reportedly allowed the police to enter the exam premises to conduct checks.The legislation though, did not go down well in many quarters with criticism surrounding it being one of the main reasons for the downfall of the BJP dispensation back then. An excerpt from the book The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics by political scientist Christophe Jafferlot mentions as much.“While educated high caste youths played a major role in the Ramjanmabhoomi movement, they largely deserted the BJP in 1993 because of the disappointing performance of the Kalyan Singh government and the Anti-copying Act”.After the BJP’s downfall in the state, a Mulayam Singh and Samajwadi Party led government and supported by the Bahujan Samaj Party came into power in 1994-95. According to another India Today report, one of the first undertakings of the government was to revoke the legislation.The report also mentions the education secretary of the state then quoted as saying that “Withdrawal of the Anti-Copying Act should not be taken as a licence for cheating”. The number of cases caught for cheating also reportedly went down to 19,657, as opposed to the 25,565 cases registered the previous year when the legislation was in place.In 1998 though, with the return of power of the BJP in the state, the Act was reportedly re-instated with a change. The offence remained cognizable though it was bailable now.In 2014, a BBC report quotes one Pratap Singh from Uttar Pradesh, on being asked about cheating, saying that “It is our democratic right!”The former Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar has said this morning though that the pictures do not tell the entire story and appealed to parents to help enforce a cheating-free atmosphere.After the images from Hajipur emerged on Thursday evening though, one would not question the reasons why such laws exist.Tweet   Follow @thenewsminute