On April 10, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal used a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker’s tweet about the education system in general and used it to target the Gujarat government. In his tweet, CM Kejriwal said, “People of BJP are also raising questions on the crumbling education system of Gujarat. Rising above the party line, voice has started rising for a good education in Gujarat. BJP could not give good education in 27 years. “AAP” government will give good education in Gujarat similar to Delhi by taking the people of Gujarat and all the parties along.”
He was replying to Dr Bharat Kanabar, a BJP worker of 35 years. Attaching an old 2015 photo from Bihar, Kanabar had said, “‘K’ is the ‘K’ of the lotus. No one taught the ‘x’ of ‘x’ education. Education has become a commodity. Education has become a commodity in this country of 900 universities and 40 thousand colleges, whose buyers and sellers are shameless. The education system is plagued by viruses like paper leaks, exam theft, fake degree certificates.” Nowhere in his tweet did he mention Gujarat. However, CM Kejriwal used the tweet and twisted it to target the Gujarat government.
Clarification by Dr Kanabar
Later, Kanabar deleted the tweet after the unwanted attention thanks to Kejriwal’s quote tweet and clarified his stand. He said, “The photograph was from Bihar. The main issue is about the evils of the education sector. There is no need to applaud Congress or the AAP. I have been an active activist for BJP for 35 years. The ideology of nationalism is in the veins, so even if you wake up and ask, only the “K” of the lotus will be spoken.”
The reality behind the image
The image used by Kanabar was from 2015, and it showed family and friends of the students climbing the walls of the examination centre to help the students in cheating. Over 300 people were arrested in the case.
AAP ‘education model’ and fake degrees
While Kejriwal may be trying to enter Gujarat through his ‘education model’, factual data shows that Delhi is far behind other states when it comes to education. CM Kejriwal may have forgotten that his own ex-Law Minister Jitinder Singh Tomar was accused of obtaining a fake degree. Interestingly, after High Court cancelled his election, AAP fielded his wife Preeti Tomar in Assembly elections.