india

Updated: May 11, 2016 06:49 IST

The Delhi University said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BA degree made public by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was “authentic” and stressed that the institute had all relevant records on his graduation.

The university also termed the mention of 1979 as the year of graduation a “minor error”, as Modi left the institute a year before.

“We have checked our records...Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degree is authentic. He cleared the examination in 1978 and was awarded the degree in 1979,” registrar Tarun Das said, hours after an AAP delegation went to the university seeking details of the degree.

The BJP made public a day ago what it said were Modi’s university degree certificates, seeking to blunt opposition allegations that the PM had fabricated his education qualifications.

But within an hour of the BJP’s press conference, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said Modi’s certificates were forged, citing what it said were “glaring discrepancies” in various details on the documents.

The AAP alleged that the BA mark sheet mentions Modi's name as Narendra Kumar Damodardas Modi, while the master’s degree certificate says it is Narendra Damoderdas Modi.

The Gujarat University, which had recently shared the details of Modi’s MA degree, said he had “slightly changed” his name by dropping ‘Kumar’ from it.

Delhi University’s Das said, “The discrepancies in names in two mark sheets exist in university records as well.”

“The university seeks to maintain privacy of any student who is getting enrolled with it. In view of the queries and reports in media, we would like to state that Narendra Damodardas Modi had qualified for degree of Bachelors in Arts. His enrollment number was CC 594/74 and his examination roll number was 16594,” he said.





Read: BJP waves PM Modi’s university degrees, Kejriwal calls them fake





Prime Minister Narendra Modi's graduation degree awarded by the Delhi University (L) and the post-graduation degree from the Gujarat University. (PTI)

Asked about variations in Modi’s names, Das said it was a common error as far as middle names were concerned. “Similar errors are often pointed out by other students as well -- which are rectified when requested.”

On being asked about the AAP’s allegation that why Modi was awarded the degree in 1979 when he graduated in 1978, Das said: “It is difficult to comment on minor errors.”

The documents released by the BJP showed Modi cleared the BA exam in the third division in 1978 as an external student, obtaining 489 marks out of 1200. He cleared English, Hindi and history on multiple attempts.

AAP-vice chancellor meet

Delhi University vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi will meet the AAP leaders on Wednesday over the degree controversy. “The V-C wants to meet the AAP leaders and has promised he will take time out tomorrow,” a university official said on Tuesday.

Seeking details of Modi’s degrees, CM Kejriwal had written to the chief information commission, which asked Delhi and Gujarat universities to share the information.

(With PTI inputs)