The CBSE paper leak is one in that string, the politics of which is only now emerging. Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s Thursday morning tweet “PM wrote ‘Exam Warriors’ a book to teach how to beat exam stress…” gave the game away. And then, shortly thereafter, former UPA HRD minister Kapil Sibal held a presser to trash the Modi government’s education policy. That the “only students” out in the streets in Delhi – and Delhi alone – are NSUI activists is further proof that the CBSE leak issue is political.

That the CBSE chief is from Gujarat hasn’t helped Prime Minister Modi. Maybe he, like his “best friend” United States President Donald Trump in Washington, did not trust the “swamp creatures” in Lutyen’s Delhi. Trump has been trying to drain the Washington swamp of the leftovers of the Obama administration and facing opposition with a “leak a day”; on some days, more than one leak.

Maybe Modi, like Trump in Washington, did not trust the bureaucrats in Delhi, the leftovers of the Manmohan Singh government – the peon, the head clerk, the section officer, the additional secretary who were doing fine lining pockets. So, he brought in “trusted people” from home state Gujarat and now that there’s just a year left to general elections 2019, a swamp creature has struck again – leaked a couple of CBSE question papers. That it came shortly after Modi wrote his ‘Exam Warriors’ book and held his televised ‘Exam Par Charcha’ programme should not be jarring. The CBSE paper leak was too pat to be ignored as just another random year-end event.

Besides, it would be extremely foolhardy and naïve for a CBSE chief to be in cahoots with somebody who leaked the test papers. It is now being said that the CBSE knew of the leak days before the exam dates but chose not to act. It is also being reported that the Delhi Police was contacted on March 13 and told of the leak by an anonymous caller. Then, 10 days later, on March 23, the day before the exam date, the test paper was leaked. You cannot expect the CBSE chief – who the opposition charges with spending more time in Gujarat selling her book on mountaineering than in her CBSE office in Delhi – to engineer the leaks, effectively scupper her own chances to remain in office.

The CBSE carries out an entire exercise before the exam test papers land up in front of Class X and Class XII students on the exam day. The entire process lasts nearly six months, from December to February-March of the academic year. First, questions are sourced from subject experts, which happens in Nov-Dec of a particular academic year; then a Q-paper committee finalizes the paper at the CBSE headquarters; multiple sets of q-papers are prepared and sent to the CBSE’s secrecy department in January; the final q-paper is sealed and sent to the printing press the same month; then, the printed question papers are back in CBSE’s secrecy department; February, the CBSE starts dispatching the q-papers to deposition centres (banks/post offices). Last, on the day of the exam, the sealed envelope of q-papers is handed over to the exam invigilators at the exam centres before 8 am on the exam date.

This year, two exam q-papers were leaked. The CBSE has now ordered a retest in Class XII Economics and Class X Mathematics and “students are out in the streets” protesting along with their parents. But let’s be honest, who are the people out in the streets protesting? The majority of the students (in Delhi) are back to preparing for having another go at the tests. Disappointed and angry they must be but they are not out in the streets – they are back to their books and notes.

Those carrying placards and shouting slogans are the guardians and students who were not prepared before the “leak” and who aren’t prepared now to retake examinations with a fresh set of questions. Why, the majority of them must be students who must have got hold of the leaked Economics and Mathematics test papers. Their parents, many of who must have paid to buy the leaked test papers, must also be among the agitated lot.

What’s more, outnumbering genuine students and their parents are activists of the National Students Union of India. The NSUI is a political body more than an organization of students. The NSUI is heavily invested in the aims and goals of its parent body – the Indian National Congress. The demands put up by the NSUI leaks of politics: from ‘sack’ the CBSE chief to the resignation of HRD minister Prakash Javadekar and the Prime Minister. There is nothing solid in terms of remedy in their demands.

Some troubling questions remain: why were the test papers leaked this year, not the year before or the year before that? Has it got something to do with the crucial elections slated for this year, and the 2019 general elections? Does it have anything to do with PM Narendra Modi holding his ‘Exam Par Charcha’ earlier this year – sort of showing him, go take a leak, finger? Is there a Washington-type swamp in Delhi, too, with a committed ‘babudom’ which is against any exercise to drain the capital of swamp creatures?

The TRP-hunting television media are shouting from the rooftops with Arnab Goswami of Republic TV and Rahul Shiv Shankar of Times Now hollering like their tails were on fire, giving the protests an all-India tone and tenor. It is apparent to all that despite an effort to Whatsapp the leaked q-papers, the leaks have affected students only in Delhi – not in Mumbai, Chennai or Bengaluru or Kolkata and all the other states other than Delhi. (IPA Service)