Vidyasagar University faced swift backlash after a question in its 9 July sixth-semester B.A. History examination described early-20th-century Bengali revolutionaries as “terrorists.” The paper asked students to list the district magistrates of Midnapore “killed by terrorists” between 1931 and 1933, wording critics say equated freedom-fighter revolutionaries with militants. Students, historians and descendants of freedom fighters condemned the phrasing, while the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and BJP supporters held demonstrations outside the Paschim Midnapore campus, burning an effigy of Vice-Chancellor Dipak Kumar Kar. West Bengal’s Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari accused the Trinamool Congress government of permitting a distortion of the state’s independence history and demanded the question-setter’s suspension and an apology from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Professor Kar said the reference was an “accidental printing error” missed during proofreading. The university has removed the chairman of the undergraduate Board of Studies and a member of the moderation committee and promised a review of vetting procedures for future examinations. “Vidyasagar University is saddened and apologetic,” the Vice-Chancellor said, adding that any further lapses would invite disciplinary action.