AHMEDABAD, 29 March — Although the Gujarat chief minister claimed a “smooth and peaceful conduct” of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations, many believe that Narendra Modi, who has been charged by many as the key abettor of this month’s riot, is speaking only half the truth.

In some parts of the state students who appeared for the recently-held SSC and HSC examinations openly copied in examination centers claiming that weeks of rioting had disrupted their studies.

In southern towns of Dabhoi, Karjan and Chandod teachers supervising at the SSC and HSC examination centers found thousands of students copying from books. The students brought books and photocopied notes into the examination centers in many other smaller towns. The reason for such mass-copying left the teachers at wits’ end. On being charged for cheating, many students said that the situation was “very special” this year and they were doing “nothing wrong.”

Nearly 1.3 million students of Gujarat took these exams across the state. Although a local newspapers reported that some books and photocopied notes had been seized from the examinees, authorities of some schools denied that copying took place in these examinations. “We don’t have any information of students having copied in the SSC and HSC examinations,” the state Education Minister Anandi Ben Patel said.

In stark contrast, the Gujarati language daily Navyug revealed that copying took place. In interviews some HSC candidates defended copying during the examination. “If I fail, or fare poorly in this crucial exam I will not get a chance to enter university and it will be disastrous for my career apart from the disgrace for my family,” said Kinjal Desai, one student in Dabhoi.

“It is not normal time. Violence had seriously affected our studies. We should be allowed to help ourselves. There will be other times for teachers to be strict,” said Muktesh Shah, another SSC candidate.

On the first day of the SSC examination some students found copying were thrown out from the examination centers. Then some schools were stoned and finally those expelled students were allowed to continue their examinations, one teacher of Dabhoi Arts, Science and Commerce College said.

“When some students were expelled they brought some local BJP and VHP leaders and (they) threatened us with violence if we did not allow students to use unfair means or if we called police for help,” said the teacher. However, most of the high school teachers in the state refused to accept that students were really stressed out because of riots. Only the Muslims were the victims in this Hindu majority area and it is not true that these copying students — most of whom are Hindus — suffered during riots, said one teacher in Chandod in south Gujarat.

In Ahmedabad, where some thousands of Muslims are still living in relief camps, almost 25 percent of the Muslim students did not appear for the SSC and HSC examinations this month, mostly because they feared for their lives outside the camps.

“In Ahmedabad about 3,500 Muslims students did not take the SSC and HSC examinations. Some felt unsafe. Some had their study materials completely burned during the riot and many were not prepared for the examinations. And, at least 60 of these students lost their lives during riots,” said Dilip Menon, a freelance documentary maker who had collected some appalling video footage of riots in Ahmedabad. Some VHP leaders unabashedly supported the students copying in the examinations. “The school authorities tried to be harsh with the students simply because 95 percent of the students are Hindus. The world has sympathy for non-Hindus only. We could not tolerate that and we had to step into the examination halls to help our (Hindu) students (to make teachers ignore cheating by students at the examinations),” said Hitesh Thakkar, a VHP leader in Ahmedabad.

When asked: “Why did VHP support cheating in these examinations when BJP, its ally, always calls for a corruption-free Gujarat and India ?”, an irate Thakkar said, “Yes they copied, but they did not cheat. In your report nowhere should you write that Gujarat students cheated in the examinations; however, you may write that they copied from books — in an extreme situation created by the Muslims.”