NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday released copies of BA and MA degrees of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in response to the Aam Aadmi Party’s allegations questioning his degree from Delhi.
In a bid to set at rest the row over Mr Modi’s educational qualifications, BJP President Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressed a press conference where they released the graduation degree taken from Delhi University and the masters’ degree from Gujarat University.
The two leaders launched a blistering attack on AAP leader and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accusing him of lowering the level of public discourse by spreading “lies” and substituting governance with “politics of adventurism”. They demanded an unconditional apology from him.
Mr Shah and Jaitley alleged that Kejriwal has tried to turn a “lie” into truth by running a campaign to mislead the people of country.
Kejriwal is irresponsible: BJP
Mr Jaitley said the kind of allegations that have been levelled against Mr Modi threatens “federal polity” in the country when a Union Territory indulges in “irresponsible behaviour” to attack the Prime Minister. They challenged the Delhi Chief Minister to verify his claims.
“Arvind Kejriwal has been spreading lies about the Prime Minister’s credentials. He has committed the sin of defaming the country. It is very unfortunate that we have to hold a press conference about the Prime Minister’s educational qualification. When you do not have any proof, how can you spread allegations. He should apologise to the entire nation,” said Mr Shah, adding he will also write a letter to Mr Kejriwal to satisfy his queries.
Asked about the authenticity of Mr Modi’s BA degree, Mr Shah told a reporter to check it with the Delhi University. Mr Jaitley said it was ironical that such a charge has come from a political party several of whose MLAs are being prosecuted for having fake degrees.
The Aam Aadmi Party, however, alleged that the documents produced by Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley were “forged”, saying there were “glaring discrepancies” in them.
AAP leader Ashutosh said Mr Modi’s name does not match in the BA marksheet and that of the MA degree and even claimed that there were discrepancies in the year of passing as well. “The BA marksheet is dated 1978 while the degree is of the year 1979. His name in the mar-ksheet is Narendra Ku-mar Damodardas Modi while in Masters degree, it is Narendra Damoderdas Modi,” he said.
He further said, “1975 marksheet has the PM’s name as Narendra Kumar Damodardas Modi, the 1976 one spells it as Narendra Damoderdas Modi and the 1977 one spells it as Narendra Damodardas Mody.”
“Instead of demanding Kejriwal’s apology they should say sorry to the nation for committing such a crime of presenting forged documents,” Mr Ashutosh said.
