Does not the country have the right to know the academic qualification of the prime minister, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked on Friday after the Gujarat High Court set aside an order of the Central Information Commission for providing information on Narendra Modi's degree to him.
Allowing the Gujarat University appeal against the seven-year-old order of the Central Information Commission (CIC), Justice Biren Vaishnav also imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Kejriwal and asked him to deposit the amount within four weeks to the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority (GSLSA).
Reacting to the high court verdict, Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi, "Doesn't the country even have the right to know how much the PM has studied? He vehemently opposed showing the degree in the court. Why? And those who demand to see the degree will be fined? What's happening?"
"Illiterate or less educated PM is very dangerous for the country," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief alleged in the tweet.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sanjay Singh termed the high court verdict "surprising".
"CIC passed an order and asked Gujarat University to provide information on Narendra Modi's degree. Then, the university files an appeal against the CIC order but fine has been slapped on Arvind Kejriwal. What kind of decision is this?" Singh said at a press conference here.
"This proves that the prime minister is actually not educated and he doesn't want the people of the country to know about his educational qualification," he charged, asking "will the country continue to pay the price for having an illiterate prime minister."
The AAP leader took a swipe at Modi and asked him to at least show his "entire political science degree" which he once mentioned.
"Yesterday some posters were pasted which asked if the country's prime minister should be educated. Modi ji sent police to tear these posters," he charged.