After the mass cheating caught on camera during the Bihar matriculation examinations, the former Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal president, Lalu Prasad Yadav, on Monday said had he been in power, he would have allowed the students to carry books to exam halls and “spared them the bother of sticking to walls like a lizard.”
“People were scaling over high-rise walls and sticking on them like lizards for passing over answer sheets. Had it been my rule I myself would have given them books inside the exam hall to copy and write,” Mr. Lalu Prasad said at a public meeting at Buxar.
Meanwhile, the Opposition BJP has criticised Mr. Lalu Prasad for his remarks. “This is the mindset the RJD chief has. He has not changed in all these years,” BJP leader Vinod Narayan Jha said.
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However, the ruling JD(U), an ally of the RJD, chose to ignore Mr. Lalu Prasad’s comments. “He is quite a sensible and senior leader... He says even serious things in a casual way,” JD(U) leader Shyam Rajak said.
Till Monday, 1,709 students have been expelled and 132 guardians and 32 students have been arrested for mass copying or abetting it during the examination. The Union Human Resource Development Ministry has sought a report from the State.