Editorial in Mail Today, 11 January 2012
Ignore cleric’s demand
DARUL ULOOM, Deoband, Vice-Chancellor Abul Qasim Nomani’s demand that the Centre cancel writer Salman Rushdie’s visa is absurd. Mr Rushdie, a British citizen, has a valid person of Indian origin (PIO) card and has come and gone from the country several times since he wrote a book viewed as controversial by some in the Muslim community.
It appears that the demand has more to do with the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh elections than with Mr Rushdie’s writing, which the cleric has, in all probability, not cared to read.
Since it is election season, the cleric seems to believe that any outlandish concession can be extracted from the political class.
Moreover, the Deoband seminary’s dominance over the Muslim community has come under threat with its rival Barelvi and Shia groups becoming increasingly assertive as well as the emergence of a caste consciousness among Uttar Pradesh’s Muslims.
Raising the Salman Rushdie issue at this juncture is nothing but the Deobandi leadership’s pathetic attempt at staying relevant.
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