People are "stunned" by the Gujarat High Court verdict overturning a CIC order to provide information on Narendra Modi's degree, and this has further increased the suspicion over the Prime Minister's education, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday.
Kejriwal, who was fined Rs 25,000 by the High Court, said the universities should be celebrating if the prime minister was their alumni but the refusal only means that either Modi is arrogant or the degree is fake.
The BJP did not take Kejriwal's remarks kindly with its spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi claiming that these statements against Modi and judiciary indicated that the Chief Minister was either on the verge of sanity or trying to create a cover when central agencies are unearthing his corruption.
Kejriwal’s comments came a day after the Gujarat High Court overturned the seven-year-old order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) which had asked the Gujarat University to provide information on Modi's degree to Kejriwal.
He told a press conference, "the entire country is stunned by the High Court's order because there should be a freedom of seeking information and asking questions in a democracy. The High Court's order has increased the suspicion over the prime minister's education."
“If there is a valid degree of Modi, why Gujarat University is not showing it? 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 Modi's arrogance, or, his degree is fake," he said.
The chief minister, however, made it clear that being illiterate is not a crime or sin. "Many of us are not in a position to get formal education due to financial conditions in the families," he said.
Kejriwal said the question on Modi's education is important because "if the prime minister is not educated, then the officers and various types of people will come and get his signature anywhere, get passed from him anything, like the note ban (demonetisation) due to which the country had to suffer".
Kejriwal has been attacking the Prime Minister for some time though he and AAP were not taking Modi on personally for sometime fearing that it could boomerang on the party.
However, it changed its strategy soon after the Adani affair broke out and AAP is now an active participant in joint Opposition protests against the Modi government.