Embattled vice-chancellor of the powerful Darul Uloom in Deoband, Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi will remain in his post for now but perhaps only for form’s sake. The powerful Majlis-e-Shoora (governing council) of the influential seminary which met in Deoband on Wednesday, while deciding not to remove him despite the resignation offered by him, on Wednesday has appointed Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani as the acting V-C.
In what appears as a clear snub to Maulana Vastanvi, who is from Gujarat and landed in trouble for his remarks praising state chief minister Narendra Modi, the Shoora also decided to appoint a three-member committee to probe the pro-Modi remarks made by him. No time limit has been set for the three-member panel to give its report on Maulana Vastanvi — he was appointed VC in early January — though it has been asked to give its recommendations soon.
While the Shoora may have decided to keep Maulana Vastanvi’s resignation offer in abeyance, his wings have clearly been clipped as the 62-year-old Maulana Nomani, who is a governing council member, will now be at the helm of affairs. A statement in Urdu issued by Deoband after Wednesday’s meeting clearly said that Maulana Nomani will be the bakhtiyar (authoritative) and active V-C of Deoband which is being taken as an indication that he will enjoy all the powers of the V-C.
Further, sources said that if the three-member panel’s report goes against Maulana Vastanvi and his resignation is accepted by the Shoora, Maulana Nomani is expected to continue as the vice-chancellor. Maulana Vastanvi, an MBA and a moderate to boot, on his part said after the meeting, “I’m still the vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom.”
Of the 18-member Shoora, 14 attended the meeting in Deoband which lasted nearly four hours and discussed other issues too, apart from the Maulana Vastanvi controversy.
Among the notable absentees was Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, a Lok Sabha MP who leads the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) in Assam and is a Vastanvi backer.
The three-member Shoora sub-committee comprises Maulana Mufti Ismail who is also an MLA from Malegaon, Mufti Manzoor Mazahari who is from Kanpur and Maulana Ibrahim from Karnataka.
All three are also members of the Shoora.