PM Narendra Modi got a first class in MA from Gujarat university and did his graduation from Delhi University.
Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has positioned himself into yet another
square-off with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Somehow, the Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) supremo makes sure that the spotlight remains at him. The
latest strategy adopted by Kejriwal is to raise questions at Modi’s
educational qualifications. This would serve two goals for the regional
party – divert people’s attention from a failed Odd-Even round 2 and
provide him some real space in the media rather than paid advertorials.
Is this yet another ploy of India’s self-certified “most honest”
politician?
As the country awaits disclosure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's educational qualifications, Ahmedabad Mirror can reveal that Modi was an above average student and that he secured a first class as a post-graduate student of political science. A
request made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to the Information
Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu seeking details of Modi's education has
led to much speculation on how Modi had fared in college, but records
dug out by this newspaper reveal that he did quite alright, at least
till the time he was a student in Gujarat. Kejriwal, who is nearly every
day engaged in a skirmish with the Modi-led Union government, has also
sought records of Modi's educational performance as a student of Delhi
University.
The Central Information Commission
(CIC) on Friday directed Delhi and Gujarat universities to provide
information on Modi's educational qualifications. This followed
Kejriwal's criticism of the CIC for obstructing critical information on
the issue.
Kejriwal's inquiry is now being
considered an application under the Right to Information and Acharyulu
has directed the Prime Minister's Office to provide all information that
has been sought. According to the information available with Gujarat
University, Modi was an external student and completed his masters in
political science with a score of 62.3 per cent in 1983. His
subjects in the two-year course included European Politics, Indian
Political Analysis and Psychology of Politics. The university, however,
has no information about the prime minister's graduation. Modi completed
his prescience from MN Science College, Visnagar.
According to Gujarat University Vice-Chancellor M N Patel, Modi scored 237 marks scored 237 out of 400 in first year MA and 262 out of 400 in MA II. His total was 499 out of 800 marks.
"The second year marks listed in the records mention that PM scored 64
(out of 100 marks)marks in political science, 62 in European and Social
Political Thoughts, 69 in Modern India/ Political Analysis and 67 marks
in Concept tool/s — Political Psychological and Social," he said.
The university had
earlier refused to share information about Modi's educational
qualifications citing two reasons: one, the university's inability to
share details of alumni's personal details with a third party; and
second that the information being older than 20 years could not be made
available under RTI. "However, we shared the MA results with a copy of
Modi's mark sheet with the PMO six months ago," Patel said.
Gujarat
Education Minister Bhupendra Sinh Chudasma on Saturday said all
requisite records of the prime minister's degrees are available. "If and
when any authorised institution seeks the information, we are ready to
provide the mark sheets. But so far, no one has approached us," he said.
Mirror correspondent saw copy of Modi's MA-II marksheet, but GU
authority did not allow the correspondent to click a picture of the
same.
When did the controversy begin?
Modi,
in his affidavit for the 2014 general elections, acknowledged having
been married to Jashodaben for the first time. In his earlier affidavits
for the Gujarat assembly polls, he had claimed to be unmarried. This
had led to a huge political furore in the campaign leading up to the
general elections. Modi’s inconsistent claims regarding his marital
status fuelled further doubts about his educational qualifications.
Moreover, the controversy around Minister of Human Resources and
Development Smriti Irani’s fake Yale University degree goaded many of
Modi’s political opponents to probe his educational qualifications in
2015.
Consequently, a number of RTI
applications were filed in the PMO, GU and DU to scrutinise Modi’s
claims of education. His election affidavits in the 2014 parliamentary
polls claimed he had undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Likewise,
his election affidavits for the 2012 and 2007 Gujarat assembly polls claimed the same.
So what was the response of the PMO and the two universities?
In
response to an RTI filed on the matter, the PMO advised the RTI
activist to approach the Election Commission of India (EC) and refused
to divulge any information. The PMO said in reply to the RTI request,
“The information about the PM’s education qualification is available on
the PMO’s website Prime Minister of India
under the hyperlink ‘Know Your Prime Minister’ which can be accessed by
the applicant,” and asked him to get the required information from the
EC.
The EC too added to the mystery by saying that this information was not available with them and the applicant could access them by visiting “http://eci.nic.in under the head Affidavits of candidates.”
Following
this, a Gujarat-based social activist filed another RTI at GU seeking
details of his masters degree, which was again denied by the university.
The university sent a one-line reply in Gujarati, “Under the RTI Act of 2005, this information can’t be made public.”
But the RTI Act allows for appeals if the information sought is denied. Was an appeal filed?
When the activist, who chose to remain anonymous, moved the appellate authority against GU’s reply, he was asked to file the RTI requests all over again and
told the PMO was not obliged to provide any information if GU does not
have the requisite information. The appellate body, headed by S.E.
Rizvi, said, “A public authority is obliged to provide information,
which is held in its records and, in the matter in hand where the
requisite information does not form part of office records, the
contention that the PMO should provide the same is not correct.”
The
appellate authority interpreted section 2 (J) of the RTI Act to relieve
the PMO from divulging this information. It said that since no minimum
educational qualification was required to become the prime minister, the
PMO is not under any obligation to possess details about Modi’s
educational degrees.
The secrecy around Modi’s
degrees was further magnified when DU also denied any information on his
undergraduate degree details in April 2016. To Delhi resident Hans Raj
Jain’s RTI, the DU said that the information sought is too general and
cited its inability to find any information without a roll number. DU’s
plea was accepted by the CIC, which dismissed the case.
Why did the controversy come to the limelight again?
After Jain’s plea was rejected, Kejriwal on April 28 wrote a strongly-worded letter to Chief Information Commissioner M. Sridhar Acharyulu.
“According
to some reports (details are attached), Prime Minister Narendra Modi is
preventing the concerned department from releasing details about his
educational qualification. Allegations are being made that the PM has no
qualification and degree at all,” said the letter, written in Hindi,
which also questioned the CIC’s autonomy.
Kejriwal
in his letter said, “Nation has the right to know the educational
details of the Prime Minister. His educational qualifications should be
released in the public at earliest. The RTI Act gives us the right to
know the qualifications of the person holding the position of the Prime
Minister.”
Thereafter, the CIC treated this letter as an RTI application and directed the PMO to give Modi’s roll numbers to the universities so that they could find out the details of his degrees.
“Not
prescribing the education (degree based) qualification for contesting
electoral offices is one of the great features of Indian democracy. What
is needed is education and not degrees. However, when a citizen holding
the position of Chief Ministership wants to know the degrees-related
information of the Prime Minister, it will be proper to disclose. The
commission directs the CPIOs of Delhi University and Gujarat University
to make best possible search for the information regarding degrees in
the name of ‘Mr Narendra Damodar Modi’ in the year 1978 (Graduation in
DU) and 1983 (Post-Graduation in GU) and provide it to the appellant Mr.
Kejriwal as soon as possible,” the CIC order said.
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