New Delhi: The war of words over educational qualifications has now brought Union Minister Arun Jaitley into the spotlight. Hours after Jaitley came out in support of Union Minister Smriti Irani and questioned Rahul Gandhi’s degree, Congress wondered if any college offered a degree in “entire political science”, which would help it understand Anil Ambani’s tax waiver. Calling Jaitley “Blog Mantri ji”, the grand old party tweeted, “FYI Cambridge offers M Phil straight from undergrad. What nobody offers is a degree in “Entire political science”.
After the Opposition attacked Irani over her educational qualifications in poll affidavit, Jaitley, making a scathing attack on Congress, came to her defence and said the academic credentials of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, too, were the subject of debate. “One day the focus (of Congress campaign) 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. After all, he got an MPhil without a Master’s degree,” Jaitley said in a Facebook blog titled ‘India’s Opposition is on a Rent a Cause Campaign’.
The Congress then clarifi-ed that Cambridge offers M Phil straight from undergrad.
Jaitley’s remarks come a day after BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, making a veiled reference to Gandhi, alleged that his “Cambridge certificate says his name is Raul Vinci and he read M Phil and failed in National Economic Planning and Policy”. Swamy had also posted in Twitter a certificate from Cambridge University which stated that Raul Vinci had scored 58 per cent in National Economy Planning and Policy while scoring 62.8 per cent overall. The certificate said 60 per cent was passing marks. Swamy, who had earlier alleged that Rahul Gandhi had four passports including one in the name of Raul Vinci, claimed it was “Raul Vinci’s certificate of failure”. Earlier, Cong had complained to the EC against Smriti Irani submitting “contradictory affidavits” to the Election Commission on her educational qualifications.