Vastanvi does U-turn on Narendra Modi stand

NEW DELHI: Lambasting Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's three-day fast for peace and communal harmony, former vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom in Deoband Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi has said his earlier comment about praising Modi's governance was misplaced.Vastanvi, who is widely believed to have lost the top jobat one of the world's leading Islamic seminaries for his comments lauding theModi administration's development agenda in Gujarat, has now retracted hisearlier statement."In January, when I had said that there is gooddevelopment work in Gujarat, I genuinely believed it. But since then many peoplehave told me about the rampant discrimination that Muslims are facing ingovernment jobs, education and other spheres of life in Gujarat. I did not knowabout it when I made the statement, but now there is no question of reiteratingthat because my understanding of the situation in Gujarat has completelychanged," Vastanvi told TOI. This is the first time Vastanvi, aGujarati who runs several Deobandi madrasas in Gujarat and Maharashtra, haspublicly said he has moved on from his pro-Modi stance. His pro-Modi statementhad been attributed by some to his "business interests" inGujarat."Muslims have not forgotten the riots and just the wordsadhbhavna in the fast will not make them do so," he says. "There is no doubtthat Modi's fast for amity is nothing more than a pre-assembly poll politicalgimmick. There is a saying in Urdu that a cat wants to go to the Haj afterkilling hundreds of mice – it is akin to that," he added.Vastanvi was elected to the post of VC (mohtamim) of Darul in January soon after which he gave an interview to TOI, saying that there had been great development in Gujarat and it was time for Muslims to move on from the riots for which Modi has widely been held responsible and faces court proceedings. Muslim leaders, including members of the all-powerful Majlis-e-Shura (governing council) of Darul Uloom, took offence at the statement and after months of dilemma over Vastanvi's resignation, he was forced out of the seminary in July. He has, since then defended his statement in various fora, adopting the line that riots are a disparate issue from governance in Gujarat.Muslim leaders do not want to read too much into Vastanvi'sstatement. Jamiat-ulama-i-Hind general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP MahmoodMadani says Vastanvi's earlier statement was "made much more of than itdeserved. If he has now revised it, that's his personal opinion. As for Modi,talking about integration is not enough. Till the time he ensures justice isdone to riot victims and adequate rehabilitation measures are taken, the gapbetween his actions and words will remain conspicuous."