BJP releases Modi mark sheets, AAP doubts authenticity

Jaitley, Shah ask for public apology from Kejriwal

BJP president Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley jointly released Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s graduate and master’s degree certificates on Monday.

Taking on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who sought to know Modi’s academic qualifications and questioned the authenticity of the records, the two leaders asked for a “public apology”.

The AAP, however, stuck to its stand, with its leader Ashutosh claiming that Modi’s name differed in the BA mark sheet and MA degree he is shown to have passed out from the Delhi University and Gujarat University, respectively. The AAP leader even claimed a mismatch in the year of passing.

According to the documents released by the BJP, Modi finished BA in Arts through correspondence from the Delhi University in 1978 and got third division.  Since he flunked in papers, he had to give supplementaries and spend an year extra after enrolling himself in 1975 to clear the three-year course. He got first class in the masters (political science) from the Gujarat University in 1983.

“Arvind Kejriwal tried to turn a blatant lie into truth and create confusion among public by saying PM’s degrees are fake,” said BJP chief Amit. He began the press conference by saying that it was “unfortunate” for him to interact with the media to defend the prime minister on an issue that was far from truth.

He said Kejriwal “lowered the public discourse” and by virtue of the fake degrees allegations, he committed the “sin of defaming the nation”.

Requesting the media not to publish stories that are bereft of evidences, Shah said he would write a letter to the Delhi chief minister attaching Modi’s degree for his satisfaction.

Ruling out the possibility of filing defamation case against AAP, Shah also took a dig at the Congress and regional parties like JD(U) for siding with the AAP to attack Modi on  a “baseless issue”.

Urging for an end to the row, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Kejriwal’s charges of fake degree against Modi take politics and public discourse to the lowest level.