In Assam, a Muslim student from a Sangh Parivar school came first in the High School Leaving Certificate examination with 590 out of 600 marks, reported The Indian Express. “I am proud to have been a student of this school. It is because of the school that I have been able to secure the top position in the state,” said Sarfaraz Hussain of Shankardev Shishu Niketan, run by Sangh Parivar institution Vidya Bharati. More than 3.8 lakh students had appeared for the Class 10 exam, and the results were declared on Tuesday.

The 16-year-old is fluent in Sanskrit, and has bagged several awards in competitions pertaining to the language, besides acing the all-Guwahati Gita recitation contest in 2014. "I had no problem chanting prayers in Sanskrit, including the gayatri mantra. I always scored 100/100 in Sanskrit till Class 8,” he said. Azmal Hussain, Sarfaraz's father, said he enrolled his son in the institution for “quality education”. He said he not deterred by the fact that the school was run by the right-wing pro-Hindu organisation.