New Delhi: The Parliament was rocked for the second day on Tuesday over the meeting of Ved Pratap Vaidik with JuD chief Hafiz Saeed as the Opposition pressed for a response from the government.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi termed Mr Vaidik an “RSS man”, but senior BJP leader Ram Madhav refuted this, and claimed that “Vaidik has no connection with the RSS”.
Mr Madhav argued: “How can a man who travels with Salman Khurshid and Mani Shankar Aiyar be from the RSS?” But RSS ideologue M.G. Vaidya asked, “Even if Ved Pratap Vaidik is from the RSS, so what?”
Mr Gandhi said, “The question is did the Indian embassy facilitate the gentleman or not? We are curious to find out if the embassy has facilitated this event.”
Coming under considerable pressure from the Opposition, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj distanced the Centre from Mr Vaidik’s controversial meeting and “condemned” it. She also sought a report from the Indian high commission in Pakistan.
The BJP tried to turn the tables on Congress on the issue by citing a media report that the journalist was a fan of Rahul Gandhi, leading to a ruckus in the Rajya Sabha.
