The Caravan of ‘Prudence and Hope’ on Way to Qom

Rooz Online

For many years now Iran’s cabinet has been holding monthly meeting sessions in different provincial capitals of the country. President Hassan Rouhani has continued the practice. Last week, his minister of state for executive affairs Mohammad Shariatmadari told Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, that the next provincial cabinet meeting would take place in the city of Qom, the center of Iran’s religious heavyweights.

“The caravan of the government of prudence and hope (the name that the president has chosen for his administration) will travel to Qom on February 25 and 26 for its cabinet-level meeting,” he announced.

This announcement is telling because Qom had been announced earlier this year to have been “next” venue of the cabinet meeting; but the plan was subsequently cancelled. At that time, cleric Mohammad Sadegh Salehimanesh, the governor of the province of Qom made the announcement of the cancellation but did not provide any reasons. No explanation has come since then either. The media has speculated that the reason is the cultural issues and is the response of the senior clerics in Qom to their displeasure with the activities/policies of the ministry of Islamic guidance of the Rouhani’s administration.

A few months ago, a website belonging to rightwing political groups had written, “It had been announced that the next provincial cabinet meeting would take place in the city of Qom and Nahavandian was on his way to the city to make the preparations. But according to the latest reports the trip has been cancelled. It should be noted that Rouhani was planning on meeting a number of senior ayatollahs and ulema (Islamic scholars) who reside in the city. It is also said that the reason for the cancellation of the trip was that some of the ayatollahs and ulema had said they would not meet with the president because of their dissatisfaction with the cultural policies of the administration.”

Now it is said that the reason for the trip to Qom is again cultural. Pro-reform Etemad newspaper wrote on piece on the president’s “sudden” plan to visit Qom, adding that it was “tactical and problem-solving” in nature. “The fourteenth cabinet meeting in the provinces was originally planned to take place in the North Khorasan province but has been changed to Qom. This religious city has become a priority for Rouhani, ever since he took office.” It continues, “The key event of the upcoming trip however is his meeting with the senior clerics, which will determine the future status of the administration. This trip comes at a time when a group of conservatives calling themselves Delvapasan - the concerned – and other critical groups have been publicly airing their issues with the government’s cultural policies. Under these conditions, the support of senior clerics in Qom can be handy to Rouhani’s current standing and can help change his situation.”

Last week Rouhani’s cultural advisor Hesamedin Ashena went to Qom and met a number of senior clerics. According to ISNA student news agency he met with ayatollahs Alavi Gorgani, Nouri Hamedani, Javadi Amoli and Hosseini Bushehri.”

After the trip, some right-wing media claimed that Ashena’s trip was a failure. For example, 598 website (the numbering corresponds to the UN Security Council resolution that brought the cease-fire between Iran and Iraq) which is close to conservative hardliners who have banned together under the name Steadfast Front, wrote that “Ashena’s mission to meet the senior ayatollahs was half accomplished.” It continued, “The purpose of the trip was to meet the majority of the senior ayatollahs but he succeeded in only meeting Nouri Hamedani and Alavi Gorgani. His requests to meet with the other senior clerics such as Makarem Shirazi, failed to result in meetings. A day after the widespread protests by the ulema and mujtahids (senior clerics that can officially have followers) over the government’s cultural policies, particularly those by the minister of Islamic Guidance, Ali Janati provided an unusual response to the critics in Isfahan and claimed that the protests of senior clerics and the protestors was based on incorrect information on the government’s cultural policies. This accusation infuriated some of the clerics.”

Ashena himself rejected this report. “In the meetings with the senior clerics no criticism of the ministry of Guidance was brought up,” he told a reporter. He further stressed that he had met everyone that he had planned to meet in Qom.

Efforts by Rouhani’s administration to communicate with the senior clerics in Qom have been made since he came to office and members of the government have met with them on various occasions. It appears that because of what happened in previous administrations, Rouhani is more cautious about meetings with senior clerics. Former president Ahmadinejad’s relations with the clerics in Qom had deteriorated in the last years of his administration weakening his political standing. Rouhani’s trip to Qom and the number of clerics he visits can reveal much about his standing with the conservative religious establishment in the country. In recent years, going to Qom has been a sensitive issue, even for someone like ayatollah Khamenei. In his last visit to this religious epicenter, he too did not succeed in meeting some of the senior clerics.