Muslims must not harbour permanent grudge: Sareshwala
THOSE WHO CRITICIZE ME ARE FOOLS AND NOT MUSLIM INTELLECTUALS AS YOU GUYS MAKE THEM OUT. MAULANA RABEY WAS THE ONLY CLERIC WHO USED TO FEEL HAPPY WHENEVER I MET MODI.
ZAFAR SARESHWALA, chancellor
ZAFAR SARESHWALA, chancellor
LUCKNOW: He has
been variously called an ‘opportunist’, a backroom boy and even a modern Mir
Jafar (traitor) by a section of the Muslims for his proximity to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
But the PM’s
most high-profile Muslim aide Zafar Sareshwala says his meetings with Modi had
the approval of All India Muslim Personal Law Board president Maulana Rabey
Hasani Nadwi.
Appointed
chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) in January, this
year, Sareshwala was in Lucknow on Thursday to meet the AIMPLB president at
Nadwa College when Hindustan Times caught with him.
“I have come
here scouting for land to set up a proper campus in Lucknow for MANUU, whose
regional centre has been running for quite some time in Aliganj,” he told HT
after coming out of his meeting with the Nadwa rector.
“Those who
criticize me are fools and not Muslim intellectuals as you guys make them out.
Maulana Rabey was the only cleric who used to feel happy whenever I met Modi.
Since I was born here I always come and discuss issues with him,” he said.
Muslims would
have to shun this mindset and attitude of harboring a permanent grudge and
loathing for a political party, he said while urging Muslims to adopt what he
calls his own Gujarat model.
“We had set two
conditions to the Gujarat government. You don’t put spoke into our wheel and we
want only logistic support from you (Gujarat government),” he reveals.
On setting up a
proper campus for the Urdu University in state capital, Sareshwala said several
‘madarsas’ had approached him and offered land.
“We are looking
for 20-25-acres within a radius of 20-kilometer from the main city. I have seen
two or three sites but nothing is final as yet,” he said.
On being asked
whether he would be approaching the state government also for the land like
other universities, the MANNU chancellor said they had no such intention as of
now.
“Let’s see, we
may seek logistics support from them at a later stage like seeking of approval for
the university but as of now we are relying on our Islamic finance model for
the project,” he said.
Gujarat, he
said, had only two Muslim schools till 2002.
“The last
Muslim school was set up in 1947. No Muslim educational institution was
established in last 60-years. Allahamdullilah, today, we have more than 40
Muslim schools in Gujarat,” he said.
Sareshwala
said Islamic finance was a two trillion dollar industry today and they would be
utilizing their resources for brand building.
