Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should come forward to inform about his academic qualification and wondered what was the need to hide it.
The Rajya Sabha member said the PM's degree should be displayed at the entrance of Parliament building. Let the lawmakers and the country be aware of his educational qualification, he added.
Three days after the Gujarat High Court set aside an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) asking the Gujarat University to provide information on PM Modi's degree to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
While noting that both Kejriwal and the CIC were absolutely casual in their approach, the court had also observed there was indiscriminate misuse of the RTI Act in this case.
Allowing the Gujarat University's appeal against the CIC order, Justice Biren Vaishnav had also imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Kejriwal.
Raut on Monday said, Narendra Modi sold tea at a railway platform and did his MA in Entire Political Science. The degree is historic and revolutionary. Display his degree at the grand entrance of the new Parliament building built by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
If the educational degree of the country's President, a High Court/Supreme Court judge or ours can be demanded, then why to hide the educational qualification of the prime minister? I think PM Modi should come forward and give a clarification, Raut said.
Raut also claimed that most of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have bogus degrees. It is a factory of bogus degrees, you know it. Take any name and check their degree, he said while responding to a query.
Asked if the degree matter surfaced to divert attention in Parliament from the Adani group issue (over allegations levelled by Hindenburg Research), Raut said, Gautam Adani's issue is not over. Even our leader Uddhav Thackeray raised it and stressed on the same issue in his Sunday rally in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (in Maharashtra).
Gandhi's disqualification is illegal and the case is also bogus. I am sure that a higher court in Gujarat will do justice to Gandhi, said Raut, whose party is an ally of the Congress in Maharashtra.
To a query on some recent incidents of violence in the country, Raut claimed, The BJP has created a new wing just to stoke violence and riots in the country. It wants more and more such incidents before facing the general polls or to postpone elections. Who started violence in Hooghly or Howrah? Who is doing it in Maharashtra?