New Delhi: The controversy around Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alleged fake Delhi University (DU) degree became murkier with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday asking the university vice-chancellor (VC) to make it public.
“We request you to take the necessary steps to protect these documents. It will be even better if all the documents are immediately put up on your website. The people of this country have the right to know how educated their prime minister is. And if there are such serious allegations over the PM’s degree, then the truth should come out,” Kejriwal wrote in a letter to VC Yogesh Tyagi.
Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have been doggedly pursuing the questions raised on the education of Modi, who had said in his 2014 poll affidavit that he had acquired his Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from DU and Master of Arts (MA) from Gujarat University.
Kejriwal said in his letter to Tyagi that if Modi did not have a BA degree, then he could not be having an MA degree too.
“Gujarat University says Modi has done MA from there. But if he has not even done his BA, how did he get admission in MA? It raises doubts that his MA degree is also forged. It is a very serious matter,” Kejriwal stated.
On Wednesday, three AAP leaders alleged that DU refused to share with them details regarding Modi’s BA degree and told them to approach the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) instead. The university cited its inability to get the information without a roll number as the reason for the denial.
However, Gujarat University on Monday shared details of Modi’s MA degree, saying that he scored 62.3 per cent as an external student of the varsity after Central Information Commission directed it to provide the same to Kejriwal who had criticised the functioning of the transparency panel.
Meanwhile, amid the row surrounding Modi’s educational qualifications, the Opposition Congress party has alleged “discrepancies” in his date of birth. It also questioned the timing of Gujarat University sharing details of Modi’s Master’s degree which it had earlier refused to disclose citing secrecy.
“In students’ register of MN College Visnagar (where Modi took admission in pre-science, equivalent to class XII), Modi’s date of birth is mentioned as August 29, 1949. In his election affidavit, he did not reveal his date of birth, but mentioned his age. His official birth date, as available in the public domain, is September 17, 1950,” senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil told reporters.
“We want to know what is the reason behind different dates of birth, what is the date of birth on his passport and on other documents? And what is the reason behind different dates of birth,” Gohil said.
