By Pratik Sinha & Pooja Chaudhuri

A registration form for admission to Maharashtra SSC and HSC examinations for class 10 and 12 students has been making the rounds on social media. Below is a tweet retweeted by Gautam Chikermane, VP of Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

Advocate Vivekanand Gupta who identifies as secretary of BJP Mumbai also promoted the claim.

( Link https://twitter.com/vivekanandg/status/1465220837632462850?t=o6LPLsBG-m5IUxwBFAaxIw&s=19)

The form was also shared by author Rakesh Krishnan Simha in May.

( Link https://twitter.com/ByRakeshSimha/status/1391147014415548416?t=FBXHdOi2xvqX07KFKoxtpw&s=19)

The form had created quite a stir last year after BJP Maharashtra MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar claimed that the State Board has removed the sub-category ‘Hindu’ from the form.

( Link https://twitter.com/BhatkhalkarA/status/1334127425546928129?t=fMIZpB2DNZFENnHpWfiIFg&s=19)

Times Now had carried a perfunctory news report on the allegation. “Maharashtra government has removed the ‘Hindu’ option from classes 10, 12 exam forms. The state government has used the ‘Non-Minority’ word instead of the Hindu option in the newly released exam forms for the next board exams,” claimed the channel.

The report added that Bhatkhalkar has warned the Shiv Sena if the word ‘Hindu’ is not put back in the exam form in the next 24 hours, he would lead a movement to burn the forms across the state.

The allegation made its way to social media

Bhatkhalkar’s claim soon began widely circulating on Twitter with the message that children have been asked their faith in the form but the Hindu religion does not find a mention. Below is a tweet by Akash RSS, a user followed by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, from December 2020. Akash has often been found sharing misinformation online.

( Link https://twitter.com/Satynistha/status/1335124596857610240?t=0_IGZDb_Q5js_SafhRDpaQ&s=19)

Another Twitter user Ocjain4 who is followed by BJP leader Kapil Mishra also promoted the claim.

( Link https://twitter.com/ocjain4/status/1334379414587539456?t=gcK6Y-P-4VbgC_uAZ85K4A&s=19)

That the sub-category ‘Hindu’ has been removed by the Maharashtra government from the SSC and HSC exam forms was widespread on Facebook as well.

Read the Full story here:- https://www.altnews.in/bjp-mla-falsely-claims-shiv-sena-govt-removed-hindu-option-from-board-exam-forms/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=repost