Trolled, BJP’s Bagga says diploma from Taiwan

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Hari Nagar Assembly candidate Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, here on Thursday, refuted the allegations that he did diploma in the National Development Course from the National Defence University (NDU) in China, and said he did one-month course from Taiwan along with the representative from 18 countries

The clarification has come after the Delhi BJP spokesperson was trolled for holding a diploma in the National Development Course from the NDU in China.

His election affidavit mentioned diploma in the National Development Course from the NDU, the Republic of China, Taiwan, in 2017.

Speaking to IANS, Bagga said, "I don't know if the people questioning my diploma are themselves literate. They can't differentiate between China and Taiwan, who are always against each other."

Clarifying about the diploma, the BJP leader said, "It was a one-month course. I had received an invite from the Taiwan government to enrol. I stayed there for a month in December 2017 to complete the course."

Asked about the content of the programme, he said, "The course focussed on the foreign relations and why the world should support Taiwan.

According to the NDU website, it was established in 1906. During its over a century-long history, the NDU's name was changed 9 times and was headed by over 30 superintendents.

Till date, claims the NDU website, it has trained thousands of outstanding officers who vowed to protect the people and serve the country.

Bagga, a school dropout, has mentioned in the poll affidavit that he is pursuing Bachelor Preparatory Programme from the IGNOU.

The IGNOU programme is offered to students who wish to attain a bachelor's degree but lacks the essential qualification of having passed Class 12.

On his plans for the constituency, Bagga said after every two days we would share plans for the Hari Nagar Assembly seat. "I have said in the first 60 days on winning the election, I will get smog towers installed in the constituency for purifying air," he said.

Bagga is facing Surinder Kumar Setia of the Congress and Raj Kumari Dhillon of the AAP in the February 8 elections for the 70-member Delhi Assembly. The results will be out on February 11.

Bagga came to limelight after he admitted that he slapped lawyer-activist and then AAP leader Prashant Bhushan for his remarks on Kashmir and called the assault "Operation Prashant Bhushan".

His rivals often accuse Bagga, who has over 6.4 lakh followers on Twitter, of being a "troll".