PM Modi's low qualifications dangerous for India: Manish Sisodia
Jailed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Friday wrote an open "letter to the nation," claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's lack of educational qualification was "extremely dangerous" for India. In the letter, Sisodia questioned Modi's knowledge of science and technology, stating that today's youth are looking for opportunities and aspire to achieve great things.
Why does this story matter?
The letter from the jailed minister comes just days after AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also attacked PM Modi over the alleged confusion over his college degrees. Kejriwal was fined Rs. 25,000 by the Gujarat High Court for demanding details of Modi's graduation and post-graduation degrees under the Right to Information (RTI). The fine is to be deposited within four weeks.
Kejriwal shares Sisodia's letter from jail
The letter by Sisodia was shared on Kejriwal's Twitter feed. "Sisodia wrote a letter to the nation from jail. Prime Minister being less educated is very dangerous for the country. Modi does not understand science, he does not understand the importance of education," Kejriwal captioned the post. "It is necessary to have an educated PM for the progress of India," he added.
Twitter post by AAP supremo
PM Modi lacks basic knowledge of science, alleges Sisodia
While claiming that PM Modi does not have basic knowledge of science, Sisodia alleged that almost 60,000 schools were closed down in recent years. He stated that this demonstrates that academic education is not a high priority for the Modi administration at all. "If we don't give good education to our children, can the country progress? Never," stated Sisodia.
School and college students mock Modi: Sisodia
"In this context, my heart sinks when I hear the Prime Minister saying that we can make tea or food from dirty gas by inserting a pipe in a dirty drain," he stated. "When the PM says that radar can't detect an aircraft flying behind clouds, he becomes a subject of mockery in the entire world. School and college students mock him," added Sisodia.
BJP's response to Sisodia's open letter
Soon after the letter surfaced, Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana reacted to it, saying, "I want to tell Sisodia, a person cannot be judged based on their degrees, but their maturity, wisdom, their thinking and their understanding of issues — all of which, unfortunately, you do not possess yourself." "You yourself are just a diploma-holder and you're questioning a qualified MA?" he asked.
Court fines Kejriwal, says Modi's degree already in public domain
On March 31, Gujarat HC Justice Biren Vaishnav quashed the Central Information Commission (CIC) 2016 order, which asked the Delhi University and the Gujarat University to provide details on Modi's degrees to the Delhi CM. It also fined the AAP head Rs. 25,000 and said that the details were already in the public domain.
Despite court's fine, Kejriwal questioned PM's qualification again
However, this did not stop Kejriwal, as the AAP chief later stated, "It's important that the prime minister has to be educated because he has to take a lot of decisions." He added, "There can only be two reasons why Gujarat University is not ready to give information on the prime minister's academic qualification—it's either due to his arrogance or his degree is fake."
Details on Sisodia's arrest
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Sisodia on February 26 in connection with reported corruption in the now-scrapped 2021-22 Delhi Excise Policy after numerous hours of questioning. On March 31, a trial court denied the jailed minister's bail request, stating that he was "prima facie the architect" and played an important role in the reported payment of advance kickbacks.
