It takes just an election for the political parties to change their roles. That is what is happening in Delhi. The ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is on back foot and the opposition Congress is enjoying cornering it. The reason: a 63-year old journalist and former editor of a Hindi newspaper Ved Pratap Vaidik has met the Jamatud Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.
The Indian parliament was stalled for two consecutive days as the Congress sought clarification from the government on whether he had been deputed by them. Vaidik is a close aide of a spiritual guru Baba Ram Dev and also considered close to RSS, which runs the BJP’s ideology. For the past few days this meet has become a major point of debate for the political parties, and most of the prime time discussions on national TV channels is consumed by this controversial development.
For India, Saeed is the “most wanted terrorist” who the establishment believes was the mastermind of the Mumbai attack in November 2008 that claimed over 200 lives. So anyone from India even looking at Hafiz Saeed is considered a crime. This analogy was introduced by none other than the right wing BJP which had repeatedly attacked the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for not bringing him to the book. It went to the extent of demanding the arrest of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik, who had shared stage with Saeed a year and half back. Though Malik maintained that while he was on a fast in Islamabad, Saeed dropped by in solidarity. But he was not forgiven, and grilled by TV journalists.
Today the BJP is facing the heat. But it has distanced itself from Vaidik and his “adventure”. Finance Minister Arun Jaitly and Foreign Minister Sushma Sawraj denied having any government connection with this meeting. But the meeting has opened up a debate on two vital issues – one, whether a journalist should meet a “terrorist”, and other, should the government overtly or covertly engage with a person who has been branded as such.
[quote]Vaidik is close to spiritual guru Baba Ram Dev and the RSS[/quote]
The Journalism Angle:
In the past, journalists have met the militant leaders who were seen as symbol of terror and interviewed them – Osama Bin Laden, LTTE chief Prabakaran, Maoist leaders and Kashmiri militant commanders. The common belief among the journalistic fraternity is that there is no harm in meeting someone who is on the other side of the fence. But in India there is so much heat generated on the issue that even genuine journalists are staying away from meeting such people even though it would fetch them a juicy story. Since the issues as this have been “nationalized” it has cast a shadow over the fundamentals of the journalism.
But in this particular case, what is interesting is that Vaidik did not come out with a detailed interview with Hafiz Saeed but was heard saying that he talked with him about Hinduism and in case Modi visited Pakistan and other issues which are being linked to “Track 2” diplomacy. His meeting is being seen as social activism more than the active journalism. Vaidik surely created a furore when his pictures with Hafiz Saeed were released to press. He also reportedly talked about Kashmir’s reunification in his various newspaper and TV interviews in Pakistan thus giving an impression that he was on a “mission”.
Ved Pratap Vaidic is a close aide of Baba Ram Dev
Vaidik was himself unapologetic about the meeting. “When I went to Pakistan, a meeting with Hafiz Saeed wasn’t planned. Journalists there asked me, ‘you criticize Hafiz Saeed so much, have you ever met him?’ I have been in journalism for 55 years and I have never said no to meeting anyone,” he told NDTV.
But many in Delhi’s journalistic circles do not attach much importance to him and term it as publicity stunt on his part. Veteran journalist Iftikhar Gillani wrote on his Facebook page, “This so called senior journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik is an ingenious fraud. I am at loss to understand how be befools Pakistani politicians, whether Asif Zardari or Nawaz Sharif”.
“Peace” Mission:
Vaidik was actually part of delegation that visited Pakistan in the month of June but stayed back to meet different people. His meeting with Saeed gave an impression that he had the tacit support of the Narendra Modi government. That is why BJP is under attack. But except for distancing itself from this meeting they did not do anything, the way they had been criticizing everyone who would even engage with “lesser dangerous” people in Pakistan. Vaidik has also been associated with right wing think tank Swami Vivekananda Foundation with which among others the current National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has actively been a part of. That again raises eyebrows. But political commentator Sushil Aaron argued in Hindustan Times that Modi is not so naive as to handle this issue so indiscreetly. “The Modi government may have a theoretical interest in communicating messages or threats to Saeed in an effort to forestall the possibility another major attack on India, but Vaidik is an unlikely vehicle for that purpose and it is inconceivable that PM Modi would risk undercutting his strongman image with such methods,” he wrote.
Whatever the result, this Vaidik-Saeed meet has brought Hafiz Saeed in focus in India once again. It has also exposed the BJP in its weaknesses. But one positive thing that could be associated with this development is that BJP is different when it is in power than when it is out of it. This may augur well for peace between India and Pakistan.
