Chaos due to PM's limited education: Kejriwal

Asks if Modi knows economy as he studied up to Class XII

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s limited education had led to the chaotic implementation of the note ban.

Raising a fresh pitch for making Modi’s degree public, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader wondered whether the prime minister understood economics as he had studied “only up to Class XII”.

His attack on Modi’s academic qualification coincided with the detention of AAP protesters outside the Gujarat High Court,  where a matter related to Modi’s degree came up for hearing.

The AAP convener said that earlier Modi claimed he did not go to college. Later, he showed correspondence course degrees, which were found to be “fake”. “If the degrees are genuine, why is he hiding it?” Kejriwal said at a press conference here.

“Whole country reeling under demonitization scandal. People want to know educational qualifications of the prime minister. Does he understand economy (sic)?” Kejriwal tweeted. In another tweet, he asked why Modi wanted a stay on a plea seeking to make his degree public. He also retweeted, with a ‘correction’, a post alleging that Modi was a Class V dropout. “No, he has studied till Class XII. The degree after that is bogus,” said Kejriwal.

He said there were doubts in the minds of people that the decision on demonetisation was taken by Modi without realising the chaos it could cause.

“There are apprehensions that Modi is less educated and has ordered demonetisation without discussing it with anyone,” he said, adding that the inconvenience being faced by people showed that the situation has gone out of control.

Kejriwal also demanded that the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes should be used to waive loans of farmers and small traders. “The money should not at all be used to waive loans of Modiji’s rich friends,” he said. Earlier this year, Kejriwal had approached the Central Information Commission (CIC) over Modi’s degrees. The CIC had directed the Gujarat and Delhi Universities to disclose details of Modi’s graduation and postgraduation degrees to Kejriwal.