New Delhi: The controversy surrounding journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik "interviewing" dreaded terrorist and Jamat ud Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed managed to rock the Parliament once again and force repeated adjournments in both the Houses on Tuesday.
Ministry of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj cleared government's stand on the issue saying that it had nothing to do with Vaidik meeting one of India's most wanted terrorists.
"Allegations that the government facilitated the journalist's meeting with Hafiz Saeed is false and baseless," Swaraj said.
"I am saying with full responsibility and very categorically and unequivocally that the government is in no way associated with this meeting. Neither did he (Ved Pratap Vaidik) while going to Pakistan, nor after going there, inform us that he was meeting Hafiz Saeed. This is purely a private visit and a personal meeting," she added.
"The charges 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. Government of India has nothing to do with it," said the leader who managed to issue a statement amidst the ruckus in House.
In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "This is a diplomatic misadventure of a private individual. The Indian State has nothing to do with it...The person (Vaidik) or his views has nothing to do with either the government or my party."
Even as government made its stand clear, opposition parties refused to budge and created ruckus in the House demanding Vaidik's arrest.
Meanwhile, the man in the centre of the storm, Ved Pratap Vaidiki talked to reporters on the issue. He said that the entire episode has saddened him especially the attacks from the Congress side as its party leaders were more close to him as compared to the BJP leaders.
"I have worked with congress during Narasimha Rao government..more people know me in Congress than the BJP. I feel bad about this because I have worked with Congress, they are my people," he told reporters.
He maintained that he met the 26/11 mastermind in the capacity of a journalist through a Pakistani scribe.
However, he stoked yet another controversy. In an interview to Pakistan's Dawn News, Vaidik pitched for an independent Kashmir. He later clarified that he wanted azadi (freedom) for Kashmiris but was not in favour of secession.
The spokespersons of both the BJP and RSS which are being accused of having links with Vaidik also stated that he did not belong to either of the party.
The Congress, meanwhile, has upped the ante against the government both inside and outside the Parliament. Accusing Vaidik of being an RSS man, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi asked if the Indian Embassy had facilitated the meet between Vaidik and Saeed. To this, sources in the MEA told CNN-IBN that the Indian embassy in Islamabad said that it had not arranged the "interview" and was not aware of it.
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