AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal has the uncanny talent to surprise not only his supporters but also his opponents. Calling Narendra Modi “under-educated”, as he did recently, is one such move. Kejriwal is known to avoid making personal attacks on Modi since the AAP lost the Punjab election in 2017. All through, despite the incessant attacks on Kejriwal, his party and his government by the BJP and the Lieutenant-Governors of Delhi, he restricted himself to criticising Modi on policy issues. So, the sudden outburst in the Delhi Assembly while raising the Adani issue has taken everyone by surprise, especially his choice of words. He called Modi the least educated among all the prime ministers India has had and also the most corrupt.
It’s not difficult to infer what caused the change of heart. One can argue that it might be related to the national general election to be held in May 2024. Unlike Rahul Gandhi, Kejriwal is more strategic in his political thinking and outlook. Like Modi, he is very comfortable in devising communication strategies to build a narrative to catch his opponents off guard. He never uses big words or long and complicated sentences. And he has no moral compunction and ideological stubbornness to execute a political somersault and take u-turns.
Kejriwal is not a political thinker like Ram Manohar Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan, but he has the ability to assess and evaluate the political climate. With the arrest of his close friend and deputy, Manish Sisodia, he has realised that attack is the best form of defence. He also knows that Modi is a popular leader with a solid social base and is supported by a colossal party apparatus and resources. Modi can only be countered by creating a viable narrative against him. Kejriwal strongly believes that the “save democracy” and “save the Constitution” campaigns are too theoretical and have little resonance with the masses, unless led by an inspirational leader.
Kejriwal is also astute enough to know that by no stretch of the imagination, can Modi be called “anti-Hindu” or “anti-national”. Since the 2002 Gujarat riots, Modi is Hindu Hriday Samrat and he never loses an opportunity to flaunt his Hindu-ness. He inherits Hindutva and nationalism as a part of the RSS ideology. But the same cannot be said about opposition leaders and parties. In the past, the BJP has successfully built a narrative about Congress and other opposition parties that they appease Muslims and by that logic, are anti-Hindu. The BJP also calls them anti-national, accusing them of being soft on China and Pakistan.
In the public perception, Modi is a decisive leader. He has successfully projected himself as a leader who will “teach a lesson” to the “villains” of history. But very little is known about his educational background. Kejriwal was the first leader to raise the issue of his educational qualifications in May 2016 after winning the assembly election in Delhi. He had sent his party men to inquire about Modi’s alleged Master’s degree to Delhi university. AAP leaders met with the then vice-chancellor as well.
Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley, arguably two of the most important BJP leaders of the time, held a press conference and placed before the nation typed degree certificates. It was said by AAP that the issue was not about his educational qualification but about his hiding the truth from the nation. The controversy ended then. But the debate continued on social media. There is still a mystery around Modi’s educational qualifications. Kejriwal has raised the issue again after seven years. This time, though, there is a twist in the tale.
The Delhi CM is linking Modi’s alleged under-educatedness with his reckless and questionable policy decisions. He is saying that the country is paying the price for his lack of good education. For example, Kejriwal said that if the prime minister had been educated enough, he would not have announced demonetisation and claimed it could end terrorism, black money, drug menace and fake currency. Similarly, Modi’s messy implementation of GST, the sudden announcement of lockdown to deal with Covid, and the passage of “flawed farm laws” were other half-baked decisions. In Kejriwal’s opinion, due to his lack of education, Modi has no understanding of intricate subjects and is forced to blindly follow his advisers.
Kejriwal and AAP argue that a vast and diverse country like India needs a prime minister who has an understanding of varied subjects. In a way, he is also hinting that he is better suited to be the leader of the country. He has a degree from IIT. He also cracked the UPSC exams, one of the toughest competitive exams in India.
Kejriwal and his party have been the darlings of the rising middle class. Ironically, in a metropolis like Delhi, AAP and the BJP have an overlapping social base that is urban, literate and affluent. It is not a coincidence that if AAP gets more than 50 per cent votes in an assembly election, the same is replicated for Modi in parliamentary elections. By raising the issue of Modi’s education, Kejriwal is trying to create doubt in the minds of this urban middle class. What remains to be seen is whether the Delhi CM’s ploy resonates with the people, even as the Opposition is trying to pin the PM down on the Adani issue.
The writer, a former member of the Aam Aadmi Party, is co-founder and editor of SatyaHindi and author of ‘Hindu Rashtra’
