The controversy over human resource development minister Smriti Irani’s educational qualifications took a new turn on Wednesday after it surfaced that she had made contradictory declarations in her affidavits for the 2004 and 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Contesting the elections 10 years ago from Chandni Chowk in the Capital, the actor-turned-politician had claimed that she had a Bachelor of Arts degree. “B.A.1996 Delhi University (School of Correspondence),” she had written in the column which seeks details of university education and the year in which the course was completed.
But, in her affidavit filed from Amethi in the 2014 elections, she had mentioned: “Bachelor of Commerce Part-1, School of Open Learning (Correspondence), University of Delhi-1994”.
Read | 2004 affidavit | 2014 affidavit
The Supreme Court in 2012 had ruled that false disclosures in an affidavit could be a ground for rejection of a candidate’s nomination in any election.
While Irani declined to comment, the Congress, which had mocked her over the issue on Monday, stepped up the attack, saying this was a “misstatement, distortion and a criminal offence” that has electoral consequences.
“We don’t know which is correct –2004 or 2014. Both can’t be true,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.
When his attention was drawn to party general secretary Ajay Maken’s tweets on the matter, he said, “We had not raked it up and we are not trivialising it”.
“It cannot also be forgotten that this august ministry has been headed by names like Maulana Azad, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Prof Nurul Hasan, VKRV Rao, Siddhartha Shankar Ray, Karan Singh, KC Pant, VP Singh, MM Joshi. I am going across parties,” Singhvi said.
However, there were divergent opinions within the Congress on the issue. Senior leader Manish Tewari felt that the criticism of the government should be policy- based rather than personality-centric. His views were echoed by veteran Makhan Lal Fotedar.
The BJP was quick to hit back. Union ministers Uma Bharti and Santosh Gangwar questioned the educational qualifications of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Another senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Congress leaders should shed their “arrogance” after the poll debacle and do introspection.
The matter was also raised earlier by women’s rights activist Madhu Kishwar.
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