VC who signed Modi’s degree did not die 2 years before signing certificate
The viral image does not show Shastri’s date of birth and the date of his death. It shows his period of tenure at another university.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 6 April 2023 1:19 PM GMT
(Image courtesy: Twitter/@AnilPatel_IN)
It is being claimed on social media that former Gujarat University Vice-Chancellor Professor K.S. Shastri passed away in 1981. Social media users have questioned the authenticity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Masters’s degree issued in 1983, which has Professor K.S. Shastri’s signature.
A Twitter user tweeted a collage of two images—one showing a copy of the Prime Minister’s degree and the other a screenshot of Shastri’s image along with the dates 22-08-1980 to 13-07-1981 in brackets. He captioned the collage, “Vice Chancellor KS Shastri who signed the Prime Minister’s degree had passed away in 1981...so how was the degree printed after that?” (Translated)
(Image courtesy: Twitter/@AnilPatel_IN)
Several Twitter and Facebook users have also claimed the same. (Click here, here, and here to see more posts.)
Note: In this fact-check, we are only verifying the death year of Professor K.S. Shastri and not the authenticity of PM Modi’s degree.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the viral image does not show Shastri’s date of birth and the date of his death. It shows his period of tenure at another university.
We ran a keyword search and came across a PDF uploaded on the website of Gujarat University. The PDF shows the tenure of 17 Vice-Chancellors of Gujarat University from 1950 to the one at the helm from 2017. As per the PDF, Professor K.S. Shastri was the VC of Gujarat University from 1981 to 1987.
(Image courtesy: Gujarat University)
Further, we found the viral image of Shastri on the website of Veer Narmad South Gujarat University depicting his tenure as the Vice-Chancellor of the University from 1980 to 1981.
(Image courtesy: VNSGU)
We also came across a 2003 article in The Times of India which said former Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat University K.S. Shastri, his son Pragnesh, and MP Jadiya, a former registrar, were arrested by the Navrangpura police on allegations of corruption, cheating, and forgery.
We also found that Prof. K.S. Shastri is currently listed on the advisory committees of the Som-Lalit Education and Research Foundation and the Som-Lalit Institute of Business Management.
Hence, we conclude that former Gujarat University Vice-Chancellor Professor K.S. Shastri did not pass away in 1981, two years before a Master’s degree was issued to PM Modi. The claim is false.
