According to the investigation conducted by India Fake News, the assertion that KS Shastri passed away in 1981 is untrue.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Master’s degree has the signature of Professor KS Shastri, a former Vice Chancellor of Gujarat University; nevertheless, social media posts allege that Professor Shastri died in 1981, two years before the certificate was granted.
As far as India Fake News could tell, the assertion was completely bogus. The screenshot presented as evidence of the claim only includes information about Shastri’s time as vice chancellor of Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, neither his birth or death dates.
Several Congress backers spread the misleading information on social media. Congress supporter and activist Anil Patel tweeted a mashup of two images: a photo of the prime minister’s degree and a sepia snapshot of Shastri with the dates 22 August 1980 to 13 July 1981 superimposed on top of it.
Patel, in a tweet with a description in Hindi, asks how “Vice Chancellor KS Shastri who signed the prime minister’s degree died in 1981.”
प्रधानमंत्री की डिग्री पर हस्ताक्षर करनेवाले वाईस चांसलर K S शास्त्री का निधन 1981 में हो चुका था…तो उसके बाद डिग्री कैसे प्रिंट हुआ ? @narendramodi @ArvindKejriwal pic.twitter.com/N9AfczvHlU
— Anil Patel (@AnilPatel_IN) April 5, 2023
The same hoax was being spread on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. You can go to these places by clicking here, here, here, and here. A recent judgement by the Gujarat High Court has once again brought up the question of the prime minister’s academic credentials.
After Gujarat University disputed a 2016 CIC order to release the PM’s degree to the public, the high court sided with the university. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal filed an RTI request, prompting the CIC to issue its order.
The university won in court, and Kejriwal was ordered to pay a fine of Rs. 25,000. To learn more, click here. Since then, several members of the opposition have cast doubt on the legitimacy of the prime minister’s academic credentials. The BJP published forged versions of the PM’s Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Delhi University and Master of Arts (MA) from Gujarat University in 2016.
Fact Check
Without delving into questions of academic fraud, our research disproves the assertion that KS Shastri, the former Vice Chancellor whose signature appears on the prime minister’s Master’s degree certificate copy, passed away in 1981. Instead of Shastri’s birth and death dates, the graphic gives the dates he taught at another university.
Searching for “KS Shastri” and “Gujarat University” using boolean operators yielded a PDF document by Gujarat University detailing its former vice-chancellors.
According to the provided PDF, Professor KS Shastri served as Chancellor of Gujarat University from 1981 till 1987. To view the PDF, please click here.
Using the same search, we were able to find Veer Narmad South Gujarat University’s website as well. The website has been updated to remove the image that has gained widespread attention recently. You are currently viewing an archive. According to the website, Shastri served as the Vice-Chancellor of VNSGU from August 22, 1980 to July 13, 1981.
Both the Som-Lalit Education and Research Foundation and the Som-Lalit Institute of Business Management have placed Shastri’s name as a member of their respective advisory panels. Take a look at this.
After KS Shastri’s time at Gujarat University came to an end, he continued to be the subject of media coverage.
An article published in the Times of India (TOI) in November 2003 claimed the previous vice chancellor, KS Shastri, together with his son Pragnesh and MP Jadiya -a former registrar -had been detained on charges of corruption, cheating, and forgery; Shastri was specifically accused of implementing an unauthorised fee increase.
Earlier this year, Shastri “led Maha Gujarat Navnirman agitation against the Modi government” as president of the Gujarat State University and College Teachers Association, according to a report from TOI.
The Gujarat University Teachers’ Association (GUTA) is the university’s umbrella organisation for college faculty, and according to a June 2012 TOI article, Shastri was removed from his position as president. Find out more here.
