A faculty member of Mount Carmel English High School in Bengaluru was sacked for a question posed in a class 8 examination paper. The question? Who a farmer's friend was — an earthworm, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy or BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa. 

The question, which was asked in the annual examination paper for Kannada for students of class 8, soon went viral on social media platforms for its political tone, especially with the state set to go for Lok Sabha polls on April 18 and 23.

“I was shocked and embarrassed when I saw (the question paper) on WhatsApp. I received it from a friend late on Monday night. I immediately called up the person and took him to task. He was dismissed from his job and the management has been informed,” Raghavendra, the principal of the school in the city's southwestern suburbs, told Deccan Herald.

“Our institution is known for quality education. We’re not bound to any political party or propaganda. We’ll ensure such incidents never happen in future,” he added.

It was included in the examination without the knowledge of the administration, the principal added.

In the southern state, BJP state unit President Yeddyurappa calls himself a "raitha bandhu" (farmers' friend), while Kumaraswamy has often referred to himself as the farmers' leader, as a means of wooing the state's farming community.

Kumaraswamy's party, Janata Dal (Secular), also depicts a female farmer on its green flag (symbolic of fields and the farming community).

The question in the examination, however, did not intend to promote any political party or ideology, the school administration asserted.

CM’s office denies involvement

Meanwhile, an official in the CM’s office denied any involvement in the process saying, “We are unaware of the situation. We have only heard about the incident through media.”

With IANS inputs