Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar has credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma for the BJP’s victory in the 2014 elections, refuting the notion that it was academic degrees that won the elections for the party. Mr. Pawar was responding to the Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s statement, who had asked the Prime Minister to come forward and display his educational qualification at the entrance of the Parliament building.
In his opinion, inflation and jobs for the youth are far more important issues than the Prime Minister’s degree. Notably, the Gujarat High court set aside an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) asking the Gujarat University to provide information on Modi’s degree to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and imposed a cost of ₹25,000 on Mr. Kejriwal.
Reverting back to the issue of academic qualification of the Prime Minister, Mr. Pawar iterated how it was the charisma of Narendra Modi which made him a prime vote-catcher in 2014. He said, “In 2014, he created a charisma, which the BJP did not have, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. The entire credit for the same should be given to Narendra Modi saheb.”
The Nationalist Congress Party leader also pointed out that it is the majority in Parliament which matters and becomes the chief, and the same goes for the State with whomsoever gets 145-146 assembly seats. Further, he believes that it is not necessary to possess a certain educational qualification to practice a political career, and credited PM Modi by saying, “He has been representing the country for nine years”.
In conclusion, he said that the Prime Minister’s degree should not be given much importance rather, focus should be on the real issues such as inflation, youth employment, filling 75,000 vacancies in various State Departments, and the issues of farmers and labourers.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is an Indian National Congress-allied centrist political party in India based in Maharashtra. It was founded on 25 May 1999 by Sharad Pawar, P.A. Sangma, and Tariq Anwar after they were expelled from the Indian National Congress. The current president of NCP is Sharad Pawar.
Ajit Anantrao Pawar is an Indian politician who is the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He was the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra to former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan from 25 June 2010 to 9 September 2014. He is the second-cousin of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. In 1991 he was said to be a driving force behind the co-operative sector reforms in the Mumbai district.
