New Delhi: Breaking his silence on the row surrounding his degree, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted Friday that visiting the Delhi University was like “being amongst his own”.
This is the first time that the prime minister has responded to critics who questioned his undergraduate degree from the university.
“When I was sent the invite for this event, I knew I had to come here. Coming to DU is like being among my own…. I know many of the staff members present here from our student days and now they have become celebrated personalities. I knew that when I go to Delhi University, I will get an opportunity to meet them and I am getting it,” Modi said in the opening lines of his address at university.
The prime minister also made references to instances and conversations among students and faculty members about Hudson Lane, Kamla Nehru College in North campus and memories of Satya Niketan in South campus.
In the second week of April, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had launched a ‘Show Your Degree’ campaign after the Gujarat High Court imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for requesting details of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degrees through RTI when the information was already available.
Way back in 2016, Kejriwal had questioned the authenticity of the Prime Minister’s Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from DU’s School of Open Learning. Subsequently, Delhi University had clarified that the PM had cleared his BA exams in 1978 and that he was awarded the degree in 1979.
On Friday, Modi visited Delhi University as the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the university’s centenary celebrations, which were launched on May 1, 2022 on the occasion of the university’s foundation day. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Education, was also invited as the chief guest at the event.
In his 30-minute address, the prime minister spoke about how Delhi University and the country’s higher education institutes can be the fundamental pillars in helping India reach its goal of becoming a developed nation by 2047.
Referring to his visit to the US, he said that now Indian students will gain access to modern technology which they did not have before. “In a recent agreement called Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (ICET) that was signed between India and America, students will get access to technology in all fields right from the earth to space and semiconductors to AI. There are going to be new avenues for growth made available to Indian students,” he added.
Indian universities are fast progressing courtesy the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, he said.
“In 2014 in QS world ranking, there were only 12 Indian universities. Today, this number has increased to 45. Our education institutions are making their mark world over. Our institutes are fast improving on quality of education, student teacher ratio and reputation. The biggest guiding force behind this development is the young generation of today… Before 2014 there were only about 100 start-ups in the country and now there are over one lakh now…,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Modi took a Metro to reach the central university to attend the event.
“Like students here, I travelled by Metro today. Students have a lot to talk about. From discussing science topics to new series on OTT, they don’t leave any subjects,” he said at the valedictory ceremony of DU’s centenary celebrations.
At the event, the prime minister also laid the foundation stone of the Delhi University Computer Centre and the building of the Faculty of Technology and the academic block which will be built in the North Campus of the university.
(Edited by Tony Rai)