The controversy surrounding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s college degrees is growing murkier with each update. The latest turn of events includes an ex-professor from Gujarat University claiming the subjects mentioned in Modi’s MA degree did not exist at the time. Jayantibhai Patel was a professor of political science at Gujarat University between 1969 and 1983. He said the subjects listed in Prime Minister Modi’s certificates are questionable. “According to my information, internal and external students had no subjects like those mentioned,” said Patel. He also said Modi was an irregular student who didn’t participate in class discussions.
An Indian Express report states that Gujarat University’s Vice-Chancellor, MN Patel, declared Modi had earned his post-graduate degree in Political Science from the varsity in 1983.
On Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has appealed to Delhi University’s Vice-Chancellor, Yogesh Tyagi to initiate a “joint inspection” of documents related to PM Modi’s degree. On Thursday, Sisodia sent a letter to Tyagi urging him to resolve the issue as felt the degree issue was damaging the university’s image.
Asking Tyagi for time next week, Sisodia wrote in his letter, “As the Education Minister of Delhi I will come to you. You get documents related to PM Modi’s degree to your chamber and we will inspect them.” The letter went on to question the university over “hiding facts” and their reluctance to make the degree public. “While the ongoing controversy is tarnishing the reputation of the university, it is also raising doubts in the minds of students and teachers over why the university is not proudly presenting the degree documents and saying that the PM is an alumnus,” Sisodia wrote.
Manish Sisodia’s letter came in the wake of DU officials declaring the PM’s degree to be authentic. DU Registrar professor Tarun Das said that Modi’s Bachelor of Arts degree obtained in 1978 was genuine. The university also dismissed Aam Aadmi Party’s claims that the degree was fake by attributing discrepancies in the name and the year of graduation to “minor errors”.
Aam Aadmi Party was quick to find discrepancies within the degrees when they were publicly released, questioning the authenticity of the documents. AAP leader Ashutosh said the degree and mark-sheets had many discrepancies. According to The Hindu’s report, Ashutosh claimed that both degrees had different names in them. He also pointed out that while Modi’s BA marksheet was for the year 1977, his degree certificate had 1978 as the graduation year.