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New Delhi, July 24: Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, the moderate maulana and vice-chancellor of the Dar-ul Uloom Deoband seminary, was sacked today although a panel probing his supposed pro-Narendra Modi comments reportedly gave him a clean chit.
The axe came down five months after Vastanvi’s comments on Gujarat triggered protests in the country’s oldest Islamic seminary. A three-member committee was inquiring into the matter and also probing who incited the students’ protests. Some suspect conservatives on the campus were behind the protests.
Today, when the 64-year-old cleric refused to resign saying the investigation was incomplete, the Majlis-e-Shura (governing council) took a vote and sacked him. At a February council meeting, Vastanvi had promised to quit irrespective of the committee’s findings.
He told The Telegraph over phone today: “I refused to quit as the inquiry report against me was incomplete. The report filed by the three-member fact-finding committee could not explain the reason behind the unrest in Dar-ul Uloom after I was appointed the vice-chancellor. I am a victim of conspiracy and I did not expect it.
“Injustice has been done to me as people with political leanings were against me even before I was appointed the VC. They do not want me to work here. I wish all the best to the seminary and the students.”
Vastanvi added that the report had “failed to identify the people who were behind the protests on the campus and were responsible for instigating students against me. It’s an incomplete report and that’s why I protested by not resigning, although I had earlier expressed my desire to quit irrespective of the contents of the report”.
A general council member said the report had given a clean chit to Vastanvi, known as a supporter of technical education among Muslim youths. “Since he had promised to quit in February, his services were terminated,” the member said.
In February, the 14-member council appointed the committee of three for the campus probe.
Vastanvi had clarified then that he had not meant to praise Gujarat chief minister Modi when he said “Gujarat is developing” and that Muslims should not live in the past but concentrate on how to progress. “I am not a politician and I do not want to remain the VC if my presence disturbs peace in the seminary. The media had blown my statement out of proportion,” he had said.
Today, when Vastanvi remained adamant to stay on, the council decided to take a vote. Five voted for him, nine against.
Vastanvi had earlier been told by the council he must not visit the seminary till the inquiry was complete. He came to Deoband on Saturday to attend the general council meeting. Sources said the probe was ordered to quieten the protesting students.
“The Majlis-e-Shura has terminated the services of Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi with immediate effect,” acting vice-chancellor Mufti Maulana Abdul Qasim Nomani said in the afternoon after the two-day meeting concluded.
Nomani said the decision to sack Vastanvi was taken keeping in mind the interest of the institution. “His controversial statements created outrage among Muslims across the country and it also disturbed peace in the seminary. To bring the situation under control we set up a three-member committee…. During that time he promised that he would quit once the committee submitted its report but today he refused to do so,” he said.
According to Nomani, students would have resorted to violence if Vastanvi was allowed to continue.
Vastanvi’s exit makes Nomani, who is from Varanasi, the vice-chancellor.
Maulana Md Yaqoob Madrasi, the pro vice-chancellor, said: “It’s very unfortunate that an Islamic institution is being politicised by some people with vested interests.”
Vastanvi, who is from Gujarat, has an MBA degree and maintains a Facebook page, was not the favoured candidate with the powerful Madani family from north India. The Madanis have controlled the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, a leading Muslim organisation, and the Deoband seminary for decades. The Madanis wanted a family member, Arshad Madani, to take the job, according to sources. But the general council chose Vastanvi
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