As the Congress party again raised the issue of educational qualification of Smriti Irani, finance minister Arun Jaitley turned the table against the Congress party by raising questions about the educational qualifications of Rahul Gandhi.
In a Facebook post, finance minister Arun Jaitley pointed out to an interesting detail in publicly available information about Rahul Gandhi’s education. Jaitley noted that Rahul Gandhi got an M.Phil without a Masters degree. Referring to questions on Smriti Irani’s qualification, Jaitley wrote, “one day the focus would be on the BJP candidate’s educational qualification, fully forgetting that a public audit of Rahul Gandhi’s academic credentials may leave a lot to be answered”.
Studying the various nominations submitted by Rahul Gandhi in various elections, another notable difference in his educational qualification can be observed. In his affidavit, Rahul Gandhi has mentioned that he cleared the senior secondary exam in 1989, earned his bachelor degree in 1994 and after that did M.Phil in development studies from Trinity College, Cambridge University in 1995. He had mentioned these educational qualifications in his election affidavits of 2009 and 2014 too.
But his affidavit for the 2004 Lok Sabha election tells a different story, as it only mentions his senior secondary exam from CBSE and MPhil Trinity, and has no mention of any bachelor’s degree. If we go by the 2004 affidavit of Rahul Gandhi, he did his MPhil after completing his secondary school.
BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy also posted a letter from the secretary of Development Studies of Cambridge University, which said that Rahul Gandhi did his MPhil in 2004-2005, although the letter mentioned the name as Raul Vinci. The letter also shows that Raul Vinci / Rahul Gandhi had failed in the paper National Economic Planning and Policy, where he got 58% against the pass requirement of 60%. That letter suggests that Rahul Gandhi did his MPhil in 2005, and not in 1995 as claimed in his affidavits.
Buddhu’s Cambridge Certificate says his name is Raul Vinci and he read MPhil and failed in National Economic Planning & Policy pic.twitter.com/22kBHSRbcR
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) April 12, 2019
Earlier, Sonia Gandhi’s election affidavits also came under scrutiny for discrepancies in education details. In her 2004 affidavit, she had mentioned that she had obtained a certificate in English from Lemox Cook School under Cambridge University. But later it was found that Cambridge has no such school under its affiliation. Subsequently, Sonia Gandhi has mentioned it as Lemox Cook School, Cambridge in her 2009 affidavit, which means that it’s a school located at Cambridge city and not a school under the well-known university.
And, please retweet Shehzaada’s mother Soniaji’s trickery too. Cambridge University became Lennox Cook School in Cambridge city. pic.twitter.com/xSore7Vfsi
— Kartikeya Tanna (@KartikeyaTanna) April 12, 2019
Fearing defeat in Amethi, Rahul Gandhi is also contesting the Lok Sabha election from Wayanad in Kerala, as the party believes that his victory is certain in this constituency as Hindus are a minority there. The Congress president submitted his nomination from Wayanad on 4th April.
