Straw Man Fallacy Identification – UGC NET Question

A straw man fallacy occurs when someone distorts an opponent’s position into a weaker or exaggerated version and attacks that instead of the original view. In the given statement, the speaker changes “spend more on education” into “ignore all other public needs,” which the opponent never claimed. The distorted position is easier to criticise and therefore misrepresents the actual proposal. This is a classic case of setting up and knocking down a straw man.

Option A:
Option A, ad hominem, would attack the person’s character rather than their argument, which is not the focus here.

Option B:
Option B properly describes the error of turning a moderate proposal into an extreme one for the sake of refutation. The original claim is unfairly exaggerated.

Option C:
Option C, appeal to authority, involves citing an expert or famous person as evidence without examining the reasoning, which is not happening in this argument.

Option D:
Option D, false dilemma, would limit the choices to just two extreme options, which is not the structure of this misrepresentation.