AAP National Convenor and Delhi CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal raised a vital question regarding the education qualifications of the Prime Minister, on Saturday. Asking the nation whether it deserves a well-educated PM or not, Shri Arvind Kejriwal pointed out that in the 21st century, when India is rapidly progressing towards development and growth, the nation needs a Prime Minister who can support the aspirations of the youth and the country as a whole. Referring to a real life situation he asked that when a person hires a manager even to run a small company, they require the applicant to have certain qualifications like an MBA, or professional degrees, so, shouldn’t the person who is mandated to ‘manage’ a nation like India not be educated?.
The Delhi CM also referred to the recent ruling by the Gujarat High Court, which stated that citizens cannot access information about the Prime Minister’s degree. He asserted that it is every citizen’s right to get information in independent India and the High Court’s decision has increased doubts about the Prime Minister’s education. He said that the ruling has made people question whether the Prime Minister is not giving his degree out of arrogance or if his degree is fake.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that the order of the Gujarat High Court that stated that citizens of the country cannot ask for the educational qualifications and degrees of the Prime Minister has shocked everyone as we all reside in a democracy and it is the people’s right to ask questions and seek their answers from the government. The Delhi CM added that it is not a crime to be uneducated or less educated as within India because of their financial circumstances a lot of people did not find the access to good quality education.
Explaining his rationale behind asking the government about the educational qualifications of the PM, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that it has been 75 years since Independence and the country has not developed at the speed that it ideally should have. Stating that we all live in the 21st Century, CM said that the youth of this century are very aspirational and they want to find a solution to the problems of the country such as high inflation and high unemployment. The youth wants the country to progress at a rapid pace and for this it is very important for the PM of the nation to be well educated, he said.
He further explained that when the nation sees its Prime Minister make embarrassing statements in the public domain because of a lack of knowledge, the citizens of the country feel ashamed. He mentioned how the PM once said that tea can be made from the gas that is released in drains. The idea basically was to use the gas in the form of energy. The CM said that anyone with a decent education will also know that this is not possible.
He also pointed out how the PM once said that we must attack an enemy nation during the rains, as the radar will not detect the attacking projectile because of clouds. He said that citizens as well as officers in the Army and other forces also heard this statement and they were embarrassed because of it.
He gave another example of when the Prime Minister visited Canada and in an interaction with people he was explaining some formula which did not make much sense and confused the audiences further. He added that this incident also embarrassed citizens of India in front of the world.
Highlighting another example, the CM said that he watched a video of the PM addressing some students and saying that climate change is a hoax. Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that climate change is a reality that the entire world is grappling with and trying to work towards solving the problem. He asked how the nation will formulate its policy towards the issue if the PM actually believes that it is a hoax. He also added that in the said video the children could be seen smiling in an embarrassed manner when the PM said such things.
It is because of these incidents that one wonders if the Prime Minister of the nation is educated and what his qualifications are. He said that he recently watched an interview where a journalist asked the PM how educated he was, and the PM responded that he studied till high school. He said that it is important for the PM to be well-educated as he needs to take various important decisions regarding different aspects of life on a daily basis. He also said it is very important for the head of the state to be literate, otherwise the officers of the government can easily take you for a toss and get you to sign important documents without your understanding.
Giving the example of the demonetisation exercises that was done by the Central Government in November 2016, the CM said that the exercise took the country ten years behind. He also pointed to the number of businesses that were later shut down as a consequence of it. Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that an educated PM would never have allowed for such an exercise to take place.
Highlighting the Centre’s decision to implement the GST structure, the CM said that although it was a good concept, the manner in which it was brought, it ruined the lives of traders in the country. He added that if the PM was educated then the implementation of GST would have been very different.
Highlighting how PM Modi brought in the three farm laws despite the farmer community pleading against it, Shri Arvind Kejriwal pointed out that it eventually had to be repealed after a year. He said that some government officer must have influenced the PM to implement the laws and it was blindly done by the PM without thinking about it. He pointed out that if the Prime Minister is not adequately educated then such problems will continue to occur.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal revealed that in the last few years 60,000 government schools have shut in the country and said that at a time when poverty in the country is on the rise, the number of government schools should actually be increasing. This highlights that the Central Government is not giving the kind of attention to education that it ideally should be. The CM wondered how an uneducated nation will prosper in the time to come.
He pointed out that the Gujarat High Court order has further intensified the mystery around the educational qualification of PM Modi. He said that the citizens are unsure of how educated the PM of this country is. He pointed out that a couple of years ago Shri Amit Shah conducted a press conference and revealed some degree of the PM.
He said that if the PM has actually received a degree from Gujarat University and Delhi University as it is being claimed, then why is it not being revealed to the nation. “There are two reasons why the degree may not be revealed. The first is because of the ego of the PM. He might be thinking who are these people to ask me for my own degree. But in a democracy, the leaders should not have such an ego. If the people are asking for the degree, then it must be shown to them,” he said.
He also said that the other reason for not revealing the degree may be that it is fake. “If the PM has indeed studied from Gujarat University and Delhi University, then these institutions should be so proud that the PM of India has studied in their institution, and they should reveal this information to the public. But instead of celebrating this fact, these universities are being made to hide the details about the degree,” he said.
He concluded by asking the citizens whether the person running such a proud nation should not be well-educated. “Should the PM of 21st Century India not be well educated? Does India need an educated PM? This is the question I ask to the citizens of the country. When a person hires a manager even to run a single company, they require the applicant to have certain qualifications like an MBA, etc. So, should the person who is mandated to ‘manage’ a nation like India not be educated?,” the AAP National Convenor asked.
