Now, Congress hits out at PM Modi over degree row

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s educational degrees, saying the documents presented by the BJP to clear the air raised more doubts than answers. “The papers presented before the media by BJP chief Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley say that Modi passed third year of his BA degree course in 1979, whereas the degree certificate shows he graduated a year before in 1978,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told the media. “How can this be possible? If a person gets marksheet for the final year in 1979, how can he get his degree a year before?” he said. The Congress leader said that Modi kept his educational qualifications a mystery during his days as Gujarat chief minister by not answering any of the queries on the issue. [caption id=“attachment_2772922” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Randeep Surjewala. File photo. IBNLive[/caption] “Now that he has claimed that he obtained a BA degree from the Delhi University and a master’s from the Gujarat University, he himself should come forward and clarify on the issue since there seem to be discrepancies in the documents presented by his people,” Surjewala said, adding that there were spelling variations in his name. In one of the cases, even the name was altered, the Congress leader said. He said that Modi’s master’s degree, obtained from the Gujarat University, says “entire political science”. “what is it? What does that mean? He should clarify,” Surjewala said and urged the prime minister to clarify the issue on his own. A controversy over Modi’s educational qualifications erupted after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal raised the issue. The BJP on Monday made public the BA and MA degrees of Modi and sought an apology from Kejriwal for accusing Modi of lying about his educational qualifications. Shah and Jaitley held a press conference here and released the marksheets and BA degree of Modi. They also made public the prime minister’s MA degree but did not give any marksheet for the course. Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh on Monday said the BA and MA degrees of Modi presented by the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were fake and forged. Pointing out several anomalies in the documents shown by the BJP before mediapersons earlier in the day, Ashutosh said that names and years on the documents don’t match.