Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad court has issued summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh in a defamation case filed by Gujarat University. The case pertains to allegations made by Kejriwal and Singh regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degree.

According to the complaint filed by the Gujarat University, Kejriwal and Singh had held a press conference on 17 April 2016, during which they alleged that the university had sold Modi’s degree. The university claimed that these allegations were baseless and false, and had caused irreparable damage to its reputation.

The court has directed Kejriwal and Singh to appear before it on 23 May. This is not the first time that Kejriwal has been embroiled in a legal battle over allegations against Modi’s degree. In 2018, he was sued by a former BJP lawmaker, who alleged that the Delhi CM had defamed him by accusing him of submitting false information about Modi’s degree to the Election Commission.

In response to the latest summons, the AAP has accused the BJP of using legal means to harass its leaders. The party claimed that the defamation case was a ploy to distract attention from the real issues facing the country, such as the ongoing farmers’ protests and the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The controversy surrounding Modi’s degree dates back to his election campaign in 2014, when the opposition Congress party alleged that he did not have a valid degree. Modi later released his degree certificate, which showed that he had obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Delhi in 1978. However, some opposition leaders have continued to question the authenticity of the certificate.

The issue has resurfaced periodically, with Kejriwal and other opposition leaders alleging that Modi’s degree is fake. The latest summons issued by the Ahmedabad court is likely to reignite the controversy and raise questions about the validity of Modi’s degree once again.