Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roll number in pre-science was 71, the same as Chief Minister Anandiben Patel who was pursuing second year MSc in the same college

INTERESTING COINCIDENCE

As the country awaits disclosure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's educational qualifications, Ahmedabad Mirror can reveal that Modi was an above average student and that he secured a first class as a post-graduate student of political science. A request made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to the Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu seeking details of Modi's education has led to much speculation on how Modi had fared in college, but records dug out by this newspaper reveal that he did quite alright, at least till the time he was a student in Gujarat. Kejriwal, who is nearly every day engaged in a skirmish with the Modi-led Union government, has also sought records of Modi’s educational performance as a student of Delhi University.The Central Information Commission (CIC) on Friday directed Delhi and Gujarat universities to provide information on Modi's educational qualifications. This followed Kejriwal's criticism of the CIC for obstructing critical information on the issue.Kejriwal's inquiry is now being considered an application under the Right to Information and Acharyulu has directed the Prime Minister's Office to provide all information that has been sought. According to the information available with Gujarat University , Modi was an external student and completed his masters in political science with a score of 62.3 per cent in 1983. His subjects in the two-year course included European Politics, Indian Political Analysis and Psychology of Politics. The university, however, has no information about the prime minister's graduation. Modi completed his prescience from MN Science College, Visnagar.The college, however, has no records of how Modi fared beyond the fact that he passed pre-science, which is a one-year course equivalent to class XII. Interestingly, while Modi was studying for his pre-science, his close political associate and Chief Minister of Gujarat Anandiben Patel was a second year MSc student of Inorganic Chemistry in the same college. In fact, they shared the same roll number — 71. Delhi University and Gujarat University have consistently rejected RTI applications seeking information about Modi's degrees.While Mirror has no information about how Modi fared as a student of Delhi University, his official web site claims he cleared his BA from DU in 1978. The Prime Minister's Office has consistently refused to furnish details of PM's educational qualifications demanded under RTIs so far. According to Gujarat University Vice-Chancellor M N Patel, Modi scored 237 marks scored 237 out of 400 in first year MA and 262 out of 400 in MA II. His total was 499 out of 800 marks. "The second year marks listed in the records mention that PM scored 64 (out of 100 marks)marks in political science, 62 in European and Social Political Thoughts, 69 in Modern India/ Political Analysis and 67 marks in Concept tool/s — Political Psychological and Social," he said.The university had earlier refused to share information about Modi's educational qualifications citing two reasons: one, the university's inability to share details of alumni's personal details with a third party; and second that the information being older than 20 years could not be made available under RTI. "However, we shared the MA results with a copy of Modi's mark sheet with the PMO six months ago," Patel said. The prime minister's younger brother Prahalad Modi, who a national vice-president of All India Fair Price Shop Dealers' Federation, said that after completing pre-science from Visnagar college, Modi moved to Ahmedabad. "He used to operate a canteen in at a bus depot and simultaneously enrolled at the Shri Swaminarayan Arts College."However, he could not go to college regularly and his education suffered." PM's close friend and also an RSS worker, Mahendra Bhatt, said that even when Modi was pursuing his MA externally, he was disciplined academically. "He ensured he spent specific number of hours for curriculum reading every day. Apart from academics, he also made sure he read other material before going to sleep," said Bhatt. Gujarat Education Minister Bhupendra Sinh Chudasma on Saturday said all requisite records of the prime minister's degrees are available. "If and when any authorised institution seeks the information, we are ready to provide the mark sheets. But so far, no one has approached us," he said. Mirror correspondent saw copy of Modi's MA-II marksheet, but GU authority did not allow the correspondent to click a picture of the same.Revealing an interesting coincidence, Principal of M N Science College in Visnagar K M Joshi stated that when Modi studied in Pre-Science in 1967, Chief Minister Anandiben Patel was a student in the same college enrolled in Master of Science course. "She was a second year MSc student of Inorganic Chemistry. Interestingly, while Modi's roll number was 71in Pre-Science, Anandiben's roll number was also 71in MSc class," stated Joshi.