Mahatma Gandhi had no degree in law, Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha said, adding that he had only passed high school. Sinha was speaking at an event at the ITM University in Gwalior and trying to make a point that “getting a degree is not education”.
“Who will say that Gandhi ji was uneducated? I don’t think anyone can say that. But did you know that he did not have a single university degree or qualification? There are many of us who think Mahatma Gandhi had a law degree. No, he did not. His only qualification was a high school diploma. He qualified to practice law but didn’t have a degree. He had no degree, but look how educated he was! He became the father of the nation!” Sinha said.
“So, let me remind you do not always indulge in formal connection with the degree and what you think is education. Getting a degree is not education. You must have heard of Mark Twain…” he is heard saying further in the now-viral clip.
The J&K L-G further added that he wants to make it clear that one should not “only be indulging in formal connection with a degree or what you think is education”.
Sinha’s statement comes just a day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked is it possible for a less-educated PM to build a 21st–century India.
Claiming that thousands of government schools were being shut down across the country, Kejriwal said: “Today, I want to put a question in front of the country — can a less educated PM build India of the 21st Century? The Prime Minister of India must be educated… If we had an educated PM, he would have understood the importance of schools and had opened more schools instead of shutting them down,” he said.
Addressing a public meeting at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal said, “I am worried that the prime minister of the country is not educated. Anyone can get him to do anything. My question is whether there is no need of an educated prime minister in the 21st century? Can a less educated PM help in building 21st century?”
