Breather for Vastanvi; Darul appoints panel for probe

DEOBAND: Majlis-e-Shoora, or Governing Council, of Darul Uloom in Deoband on Wednesday withheld its decision on the fate of the Islamic seminary's vice-chancellor Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi till a three-member probe panel submits its report. The committee -- set up to look into the allegations levelled against Vastanvi -- has been asked to submit its report at the earliest.

The MBA cleric from Gujarat has been in the eye of a storm for allegedly giving a clean chit to the Narendra Modi administration.

The Council has appointed Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani of Varanasi as a caretaker VC. He has been entrusted with all powers till the committee submits its report. According to the Council, Nomani will succeed Vastanvi if the panel recommends accepting the latter's resignation.

Maulana Manzoor of Kanpur, Maulana Ismail of Malegaon and Maulana Ibrahim Malik of Chennai have been named as the members of the probe panel. Of the trio, Maulana Manzoor is the only person, who had voted against Vastanvi in the January 10 VC election.

Vasntavi maintained that he offered his resignation during the five-hour-long meeting, but the Shoora refused to accept it. Sources, however, claimed that Vastanvi was not ousted, thanks to his masterstroke counter argument. He told the Council that he's ready to quit, but his detractors (read Arshad Madani and others) should also follow suit for vitiating the seminary's atmosphere.

Wednesday's decision diffused the growing tension on the campus, where battlelines have been drawn between pro and anti-Vastanvi camps.

Arshad Madani, a member of the seminary's faculty and president of a Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind, endorsed that Vastanvi's resignation would mark an honourable exit for him. "Vastanvi will have to go, no matter what the committee recommends," Arshad said.

Interestingly, Arshad, who lost to Vasantvi by four votes in the election, shares a personal relationship with the incumbent Darul head. Arshad's son is married to Vastanvi's daughter, but personal equations seem to matter little in the ongoing power struggle at Darul Uloom.

In the 18-member Council, 14 were present in Wednesday's crucial meeting. Assam MP Badruddin Ajmal, who has been a principal backer of Vastanvi, was conspicuous by his absence since his own fate hangs in balance.

Arshad-led Jamiat faction has recently disbanded the Assam unit of Jamiat's working committee, which was headed by Ajmal. The dissolution took place ahead of the Assam polls, where Ajmal has refused to forge an alliance with Congress for the grand old party's burden of corruption. Shaken, Ajmal's group has passed a resolution. It wants to be a part Jamiat faction, which is led by Arshad's nephew, Maulana Mahmood Madani. The merger will be decided in the central Jamiat's working committee meeting on March 6, which perhaps, explained his absence from Wednesday's meeting.