At a time when the new head of Darul Uloom, Deoband, Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi finds himself in a spot over alleged remarks saying Muslims hadn’t been left out in Gujarat’s development surge, the Jamiat Ulema e Hind is getting ready to hold a meeting entitled ‘Husul-e-Insaaf (or Obtaining Justice)’, in his hometown Surat. The main topic of discussion would be the problems faced by Muslims in India, especially Gujarat.
The Jamiat is controlled by Rajya Sabha MP Maulana Mahmud Madani, and he is expected to address the gathering, scheduled to be held on February 5 and attract around 3,000 people.
Mahmud Madani, like his father Maulana Asad Madani earlier, is known to be very closely associated with the Darul Uloom. The meeting also comes in the midst of a battle of control over the Jamiat, with the other contender being Mahmud Madani’s uncle Maulana Arshad Madani. The latter, incidentally, lost to Vastanvi in the race for Darul Uloom vice-chancellorship and is related to him through his son’s wedding to Vastanvi’s daughter.
Vastanvi had found himself in a soup, and subsequently resigned, over remarks attributed to him that “all communities are prospering in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat and there was no discrimination against the minorities in the state as far as development was concerned”. He later said he had been misquoted, and offered his apologies to those hurt.
His remarks had set off a heated debate with the muslim community on the issue of “discriminatory development” in Gujarat.
The Surat conference comes ahead of the February 23 meeting of the Majlis-e-Shoora of the Darul Uloom to take a call on Vastanvi’s resignation. The all-India secretary of the Jamiat, Maulana Hakimuddin Qasimi, currently in Surat to coordinate the programme, denies there is a connection between the meeting and the Vastanvi row. He says the meeting was part of the build-up to a main state conference, and that a decision had been taken in this regard as early as December 31 last year.
“Our state conference was to take place earlier on February 27, but it was pointed out that this coincided with the Godhra train burning. We decided it would be an inappropriate time. Hence we shifted our conference to later in March. This is a routine event involving our organisation in Surat and some areas around it,” says Qasimi.
The organisers also say that those addressing the crowds in Surat on Saturday would be multi-faith leaders and not just office-bearers of the Jamiat. Among the speakers would be senior advocate Mukul Sinha, who is fighting cases before the Nanavati Commission.