Muslims won't mind if Modi is elected prime minister: Vastanvi

Former Vice Chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband, Ghulam Muhammad Vastanvi today said that Muslims should not have any problem if people of the country elects Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister.

"If our country makes him Prime Minister, there is no reason for us to have any objection (Agar apna mulk unko PM banata hai to hamari taraf se koi inkaar to ho hi nahi sakta)," Vastanvi told reporters here today when he was asked him about his views about Modi as prime ministerial candidate.

He was here in the city to attend a 'samuhik nikaah' or mass marriage function organised by the Gujarat Sarvajanik Welfare Trust where 162 Muslim couples tied the knot today.

When asked about his take on the plight of minorities particularly Muslims in Gujarat, he said, "For the past 10 years there is BJP rule in the state. If the BJP government works for Muslims, then Muslims will support it and if it does not, then they will move away."

"As Mulayamji had opined recently, if the BJP changes the agenda, changes its ideology and adopts a secular approach towards every section of society, then I don't see why people won't support it," he said at the function which was also attended by Dariyapur's Congress MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh and local councillor Badarudding Shaikh.

Gyasuddin Shaikh later told PTI that "Vastanviji has not expressed his support to Modi as a section of the media projected. He merely said that if our country chooses Narendra Modi as next Prime Minister, then there is no reason Muslims would have objection to it."

In early 2011, Vastanvi was caught in the middle of a controversy when, as newly elected Vice Chancellor of the Darul Uloom Deoband Seminary, his comments regarding development's positive impact on Gujarat's Muslims were interpreted in some quarters as praise for Modi.

On July 24, 2011 he was asked to step down from the post of Vice Chancellor.