From Smriti Irani to Sangeet Som: Fake degree controversies are the new fad

Smriti Irani

Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani

Both the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have demanded the resignation of Union HRD Minister and senior BJP leader Smriti Irani after allegations that she had furnished false information about her education in affidavits filed with the Election Commission. According to the complainant, Irani, in her affidavit for the April 2004 Lok Sabha polls, said that she completed her BA in 1996 from Delhi University (school of correspondence). In another affidavit to contest the Rajya Sabha election from Gujarat, she stated that her highest educational qualification was B.Com Part-I from the School of Correspondence, DU, claimed the complainant. In late June, a Delhi court took cognizance of the complaint filed against her.  On her part, Irani has dismissed the allegations as ‘baseless.’

Jitender Tomar

Earlier during the hearing, police told the court that Tomar should be sent to 14-days judicial custody.

The Aam Aadmi Party was dealt a serious blow when its Delhi Law Minister Jitender Tomar was arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly falsifying his law degree. He was slapped with charges of forgery and cheating. Currently, he is held in Tihar Jail. The party had first come to his defence when he was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 9. But later, when the party realized that he had allegedly submitted a fake RTI reply validating his degree, the AAP withdrew its support. Tomar was also taken to colleges in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, places where he claimed to have studied, by the police.

Vinod Tawde

School Education Minister Vinod Tawde

For a BJP that criticised the AAP mercilessly in the Jitender Tomar row, allegations of its senior Maharashtra minister Vinod Tawde having received an engineering degree from an institution that’s neither recognised by the AICTE or UGC was hugely embarrassing. Speaking to the media, Tawde said, “Yes, I have studied from Dnyaneshwar University in Pune. I am proud to be a student of that university.” The controversy made a major dent to the BJP government in Maharashtra, which was already reeling under corruption allegations made against another senior minister Pankaja Munde.

Surender Singh

AAP MLA Surender Singh.

The AAP got a second jolt when Surender Singh, one of its MLAs, was faced with faking his educational degree. Singh, on his part, claimed that he was actually the “victim” in the case as he had legitimately received a degree from a university in Sikkim, but the institution had turned out to be a “dubious” one. He also claimed that he had made a “mistake” in his election affidavit.

“I was awarded the degree in 2012. I have not submitted any fake degree. But yes, I have made a mistake in my affidavit. While mentioning the degree in the affidavit, I mentioned it as Sikkim University while it should have been Eiilm Sikkim University. So if anyone files an RTI application in Sikkim University, they will not have any record. This does not mean that my degree is fake, as I have graduated from the Eiilm Sikkim University,” the MLA said.

Keshab Debbarma

In far-away Tripura, another fake degree controversy was taking root. The Congress in Tripura has asked the Election Commission of India to disqualify a ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA over filing different educational qualifications in election affidavits. Leader of Opposition in the Tripura state assembly Sudip Roy Barman has written to the ECI complaining that Golaghat constituency MLA Keshab Debbarma has furnished differing educational qualifications in two state-wide election affidavits.

Sangeet Som

BJP MLA Sangeet Som

An allegation has risen that Sangeet Som, the BJP MLA accused of making inflammatory speeches that led to riots in Muzaffarnagar, furnished false information regarding his educational qualification in his affidavit to the Election Commission submitted ahead of the assembly polls. In a letter to the Commission and Meerut district magistrate Pankaj Yadav, the complainant has claimed that Som’s submission in the affidavit that he has passed the Intermediate exam is false. To establish his claim, Mukhia has attached what he claims is a certificate from the Principal of the K K Jain Inter College, Khatauli, stating that Som failed his high school exam in 1993 and took a transfer certificate from the school the same year.

Som, on his part, has denied the charge and said that Mukhia, who he claims is a relative of a Samajwadi Party leader, was trying to tarnish his image.

Bhavna Gaur

AAP MLA Bhavna Gaur

Controversies seem to be spilling for the AAP, which finds yet another Delhi MLA being accused of forging educational certificates. A Delhi court took cognizance of a complaint filed against Gaur in which he allegedly misrepresented facts about her educational qualification in her election affidavits.

The complaint says that in the 2013 affidavit, Gaur claimed to have studied up to Class XII while in the affidavit for the 2015 election, she stated that she was a graduate from Delhi University and held a Bachelor of Education degree from Maharshi Dayanand University.