A new entrant to the Narendra Modi ministry has found himself embroiled in a controversy that has been chasing the government, intermittently, since the Prime Minister took oath in 2014. Within hours of the swearing-in of Nisith Pramanik, the saffron party’s Lok Sabha MP from Cooch Behar on Wednesday, his former party Trinamul raised a red flag over his educational qualifications.

So far, there has been no response from Pramanik.

Trinamul Congress Cooch Behar district president Partha Pratim Roy shared screenshots of an affidavit filed by Pramanik, the youngest minister in the Modi’s council of ministers, before the Election Commission of India, and another from the Lok Sabha website.

In the affidavit, Pramanik, who is serving as deputy to Union home minister Amit Shah, has mentioned his educational qualification as Madhyamik from Bhetaguri Lal Bahadur Shastri Vidyapeeth in Cooch Behar’s Dinhata. The year is not mentioned. The Lok Sabha website mentions his educational qualification as Bachelor’s of Computer Application from Balakura Junior Basic School.

“There is a discrepancy, and it is the duty of the minister to inform voters of his constituency what is the truth about his educational qualification,” said Roy.

“Can a junior basic school give a Bachelor’s degree or certificate? To study BCA, an undergraduate course, one has to clear higher secondary. When and where did he clear higher secondary?” asked Roy.

The 35-year-old Pramanik was with the Trinamul till the 2018 panchayat polls when he rebelled against the local leadership and joined the BJP before the Lok Sabha polls.

Pramanik also faces allegations of attempt to murder, outraging the modesty of a woman, criminal intimidation, rioting and theft mentioned in 11 FIRs against him.

State BJP leaders have refused to comment on the Pramanik controversy.

However, the controversy over his educational qualifications puts Pramanik in an exalted league of Indian politicians. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s educational credentials have been questioned. Both the Delhi University and Gujarat University from which Modi claimed to have pursued his graduate and post-graduate degrees have refused to share details of the courses pursued by the Prime Minister. Though BJP had claimed Modi had a postgraduate degree in “entire political science”, the Lok Sabha website mentions his educational qualifications as BA, MA (Pol Science), educated at Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, and Delhi University.

Ahead of her first election in 1984 when Mamata Banerjee defeated CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee from Jadavpur, wall writings mentioned a “Dr (doctor)” before her name, and she had claimed to have done a PhD from East Georgia University on “the impact of Mughal harem on state and policies.” The United States Educational Foundation in India later clarified that the East Georgia University did not exist.

Two other ministers—both handling the human resources development ministry responsible for running educational institutes in the country—have been mired in controversies surrounding their educational qualifications.

Smriti Irani had claimed to be a graduate with a BA in 2004. Ten years later in 2014, that was changed to BCom Part I from the School of Open Learning (Correspondence). She never mentioned that she did not complete the course. Irani also claimed to have a degree from Yale University. It turned out later, in 2013, that she had attended a six-day leadership course in the prestigious US university.

Ramesh Pokhriyal, who became the HRD minister in 2019, has never mentioned his school and higher secondary school records ever, though he has been awarded two DLits from a Graphic Era University and Uttarakhand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya. He has also never mentioned the subject in which he did his MA.

Given the Trinamul’s charge on the educational qualifications of the BJP leadership, the leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly has decided to raise controversies that surrounded the Trinamul leaders.

“During the debate on the proposal for a legislative council, the Treasury Bench referred to the educational qualifications of the PM and others. Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari has asked all MLAs to speak about the bogus PhD of Mamata,” said a BJP source.