Fronting Narendra Modi would prove detrimental to BJP: Vastanvi

MEERUT: Having courted controversy earlier for praising NarendraModi, Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, the ex-Vice Chancellor of DarulUloomDeoband, has said that making the Gujarat Chief Minister the election campaign committee head of BJP will prove detrimental to the party.

"Bringing Modi forward will mean a loss of the Muslim vote bank for BJP. And by making Modi the election campaign committee head, the party itself has dug his own grave," Vastanvi told reporters here.

Talking about education earlier, the 60-year-old former chief of the 145-year-old Islamic seminary stressed on people taking their own 'Taleem' (education).

He claimed that the government may try harder but as long as people don't follow their own education, no religious community will flourish.

Vastanvi also expressed his sympathy for people of flood hit states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

In July 2011, Vastanvi was sacked for praising Narendra Modi following his remarks on the Gujarat Chief Minister's development policies and that Muslims should forget the communal riots of 2002 and move on, which had raised the hackles of the conservatives.