Aabhas Sharma visits Deoband and finds that neither students nor teachers are comfortable speaking about the Vastanvi controversy.
No, I don’t want to talk to you or answer any of your questions.” The student has made up his mind. Another student doesn’t even bother to look our way; many others just smile and walk away. Normally, students are more than eager to share their opinion on everything under the sun, but not here. At Dar-ul-Uloom in Deoband, 150 km off Delhi in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, there is palpable tension all around. A wrong comment or misquote can create trouble at India’s oldest centre for Islamic learning, thanks to Vice-Chancellor Maulana Gulam Mohammed Vastanvi’s remarks on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s development agenda and the political heat it has generated.
Deoband was set up in 1866 by a group of theologians. Its word is final in all matters religious. It spoke out against the partition of the subcontinent on religious lines, has never taken a paisa from people outside India and in recent times has condemned terrorism. It has even opened its doors to Swami Ramdev to come and teach Yoga to its students! The furore over Vastanvi’s remark has put the spotlight back on the school and its 4,000-odd students. Vastanvi has disowned the comment but the controversy refuses to die down.
The students are a cheerful and helpful lot, till you mention Vastanvi. “It is a sensitive issue and everyone has an opinion, but we don’t want students to take their mind off studies,” says Maulana Abdul Khalique Madrassi, the deputy vice-chancellor of Dar-ul-Uloom. Is there a gag order on students? No, says Khalique. The few students who do speak up are very clear that what their “Mohtammim” (vice-chancellor) said was wrong. “He might have an opinion but when you are heading Dar-ul-Uloom, you should know what reaction it can cause,” says a student.
Not just students, even the Deoband staff is reluctant to divulge their names. Outside the school, people are a little open. Mohammed Talkha runs a small shop outside the mosque at Dar-ul-Uloom and sells posters and literature about the institute. “What Maulana Vastanvi said was wrong and he won’t stay here for long,” he says. Khalique, who has been looking after the affairs of the school for over 30 years, says that Vastanvi has done a lot of good work but he is “not going to sit and judge if what he said was right or wrong”. That decision will be taken by the Majlis-i-Shura or the governing body which will meet on February 23.
In the courtyard of Dar-ul-Uloom, as we wait for Khalique, an old man tells us we aren’t allowed to stand here and wait. He takes us to the mehmaan ghar or guest house. Khalique informs that a local Urdu paper published a misleading article and since then everybody has been cagey. “But we are always willing to clarify our position which is the same — the governing body has to take the decision.”
Among students there is a sense of anger towards Vastanvi, who is considered an outsider at Deoband. Unlike his predecessors, he comes from Gujarat. He was appointed vice-chancellor because of his track record in education.
He started a school in a hut in Akkalkuwa in 1979 with six students. In 30 years, the school has become Jamia Islamia Ishaat-ul-Uloom which teaches over 200,000 students across the country.
It’s not that everyone in Deoband is against Vastanvi. Some believe it is his liberal attitude which hasn’t gone down well with the Deobandis. Khalique says that Vastanvi’s track record is impeccable and no one can doubt his credentials. He, however, remains tightlipped about his opinions on the modernisation of the seminaries. “We are proud of the way Dar-ul-Uloom is looked as one of the greatest institutes of its kind in the world,” he says. In the same vein, he asks how can anyone question Vastanvi when he has been at Deoband for less than two weeks. “Give him a chance to work and then pass judgment,” says he. But that can only happen if on February 23 Vastanvi is asked to continue as vice-chancellor.
