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The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Tuesday condemned and disapproved of freelance journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik’s meeting with Hafiz Saeed, alleged mastermind of the November 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai, in Lahore on July 2. It also asked the high commission of India in Islamabad to send a report on whether it was aware of the meeting.
The issue rocked Parliament for the successive day on Tuesday. Both Houses were adjourned after the Congress and other opposition parties demanded a clarification from the government on the issue.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley termed Vaidik’s meeting with the Jamat-ud-Dawah chief as a “diplomatic misadventure of a private individual”. However, the government thought it better to issue a statement condemning and disapproving of the meeting, after the Congress launched an onslaught led by vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul said the question was if “the Indian High Commission facilitated the gentleman (Vaidik) or not.” On Vaidik’s political affiliation, Rahul said, “Yes, he is a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) man. That’s a known fact.”
Former RSS spokesman Ram Madhav denied that Vaidik was from RSS. Vaidik has been an aide of Yoga guru Ramdev.
Vaidik denied being a member of RSS and suggested he had been close to many Congress leaders. “I feel bad about this because I have worked with the Congress. They are my brothers, my own people,” Vaidik said. The Bharatiya Janata Party, despite Vaidik’s admission to the contrary, realised it needed to distance itself from the man given his proximity to Ramdev, and having been one of the most ardent supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Monday, Ramdev had justified the meeting, saying Vaidik was trying to bring about a change of mind in Saeed.
But Indian TV channels reproducing excerpts from Vaidik’s interview to a Pakistani news channel had given enough ammo to the opposition to corner the government. Vaidik in that interview advocated independence for Kashmirs — Jammu and Kashmir and Pak-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He believed there should be a common election in the two Kashmirs and it should have one chief minister.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj not only condemned the Vaidik-Saeed meeting but assured the House the government has sought a report from the commission. “The charge that he had gone there as somebody’s emissary or that he is a follower of someone and that the government was associated with the meeting in any way is completely untrue, baseless and very unfortunate. The government has nothing to do with it,” Swaraj said.
The opposition disrupted Question Hour in both Houses. When BJP tried to thwart the Congress protests by alleging Vaidik had gone along with some Congress leaders to Pakistan, Congress leader in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “It was a 13-member delegation which had gone for that particular conference for which he was invited. It was held on June 14. While 12 members, including Mani Shankar Aiyar and Salman Khurshid, returned the next day, only three persons, including him (Vaidik) stayed back for reasons best known to him… he had a 70- minute meeting. It is not a small thing.” Azad demanded Vaidik’s passport be seized.
