The seminary says it will not support any political party.
Even as renowned Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has decided to play neutral, as stakes for Muslim votes go high in the remaining two phases of Uttar Pradesh poll, at Aligarh Muslim University film maker Mahesh Bhatt joined a section of Muslim intelligentsia, marching in the streets seeking votes for Congress.
The most influential seminary in the city of Deoband in Saharanpur district in Western UP has refused to make a public announcement in support of any political party or candidates and even snubbed leaders, who had sought to meet its vice-chancellor Mufti Abdul Qasim Nomani.
Sources in the seminary say Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and Rashid Masood, who had recently moved from Samajwadi Party (SP) to the Congress, had sought appointments with Nomani. “We had clear directions not to allow political parties to make a beeline to the campus lest it creates any confusion,” Deoband spokesman Maulana Ashraf Usmani told DNA.
“We are an apolitical institution. We don’t provide political guidance. We only provide scholarly guidance to Muslim community,” he added, admitting that requests of political leaders to visit the seminary campus were spurned.
Hunting for Muslim votes and drafting several religious scholars in its election campaign, the Congress party brass was banking on a Deoband message to help swing votes especially in crucial Western UP, where it is contesting in alliance with Ajit Singh led Rashtriya Lok Dal.
The vice-chancellor has also decided to be away from Deoband from February 24 to March 3 to escape influencing the elections, a Darul Uloom source disclosed.
The decision to remain apolitical was taken at an executive meeting convened ahead of polls. The meeting not only approved a Rs20 crore annual budget for the seminary, but also approved new members, mostly supporters of Gujarat scholar Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, who was divested of top post at the seminary for his comments favouring Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.
Mulayam Singh had also tried his luck to secure support of Deoband, but he was also spurned to visit unlike in 2007 elections, when he visited the campus and clicked pictures with then vice-chancellor Mufti Marghoob-u-Rahman.
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