By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
Patna: Maulana Ghulam Muhammed Vastanvi, the newly elected rector of India’s largest seminary Darul Uloom Deoband, has said he is ready to step down if the high-powered Majlis-e-Shura (Advisory Committee) which elected him to the post, asks him to do so. The Gujarat-based cleric said it when TwoCircles.net called him to know his views about the leg-pulling that has begun soon after he won the post.
Maulana Vastanvi is under heavy fire from several quarters of the community for praising the Gujarat government of Narendra Modi.Talking to TCN two days ago the Maulana had said that Muslims are living in Gujarat peacefully, they are doing businesses, getting education and there is no discrimination against the minorities.
Earlier this month Maulana Vastanvi who runs a big madrasa in Surat,Gujarat, was elected by the Deoband’s Shura with majority votes for the post of rector. The place was vacant after the death of Maulana Marghoobur Rahman. In the 12-member Shura he had got eight votes. But soon after, some people attached to the seminary began voicing against the election.
When asked about the reported leg-pulling Maulana Vastanvi told TCN: “I am not much bothered about it. After all I have been elected by the Shura (advisory committee which is supreme at the Deoband). When a Lok Sabha MP is elected does he bother about what the opposition or people say or can he be recalled?”
“But I am ready to step down if the same Shura asks me to do so. If one day the Shura tells me that it has changed its mind and wants to replace me, I will put in my papers. I am already a busy person,running a big institute here with 15000 students and several colleges attached.
The Maulana, however, also talked about his priorities and what he will do to change the image of Deoband as a centre of fatwas.When TCN asked him about his priorities as the rector the Maulana frankly said he is not going to bring a big change as he can’t do it alone.
“I am not going to make any dramatic changes. Yes, I want to expand Deoband in terms of strength. But one should know that a rector of Deoband is not all in all. He works under the powerful advisory committee. I will follow the path shown by the founders of the seminary and our elders,” he said.
On what he will do to change the image of Deoband as the centre of fatwas, he said:
“Yes, I will work on this front. I will talk to senior teachers of Deoband and the head of the Darul Ifta that issues fatwas. Media of late has become choosy. They pick issues of their interest from the website of the seminary and sensationalize the issue. A media committee will be set up to monitor and scrutinize the fatwas. The committee will decide which fatwas should be put on the website and which not.”