Thursday, February 24, 2011

Vastanvi Praises Modi- Controvarsy

Vastanvi gets hero’s welcome
Darul Uloom V-C Received By A Huge Crowd At Ahmedabad Airport

Ahmedabad: Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, who kept his job as vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom of Deoband, stopped here on the way home to break his silence on the controversy on the Modi comment and his appointment.The first Gujarati vice-chancellor of the Deoband seminary got a hero’s welcome at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport here when he landed on Thursday afternoon on way to his hometown Akkalkuwa near Surat.
He refused to take political questions in the brief media interaction and described the anger against him on the Deoband campus as a combined effect of his comment on Gujarat and decision to rusticate students who reacted to it.
Soon after his appointment, Vastanvi told TOI in an interview that all communities were prospering in Gujarat and there was no discrimination against the minorities in the state as far as development is concerned. The comment enraged his colleagues at Deoband who demanded his resignation.
Vastanvi called the meeting of Deobands Majlis-e-Shoora (supreme governing council) on Wednesday as historic for the country and said that he resigned because of the controversy. First, my comment on Gujarat was misinterpreted by the Urdu media and then there was uproar on the campus by students who were later rusticated for their behaviour. Some of the senior members of the board intervened and the students were taken back after their assurance, Vastanvi said.
A huge crowd of supporters and students from 10 schools and madrasas in the city came to the airport to receive Vastanvi. They were flashing banners saying Vastanvi as Mohtamim (V-C) yesterday, today and tomorrow, we are proud of you Maulana.The shoora, in its Wednesday meeting, asked him to continue till a 3-member committee comes out with a verdict.
“Whatever the outcome will be, I will continue to work for education," he said. He refused to answer a question on whether he became a victim of regional politics of Uttar Pradesh Muslims. Vastanvi headed for Akkalkuwa where he plans to spend some time at the institutes he had established in his hometown.

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