New Delhi, Jul 14: A meeting between Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and a journalist close to yoga teacher Ramdev has provoked a controversy in India.
There was uproar in the Rajya Sabha Monday over the meeting of an aide of yoga guru Ramdev with Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, disrupting the question hour.
A picture of the yoga guru's close aide Ved Pratap Vaidik with Hafiz Saeed was circulated on social media, stirring a raging controversy.
As soon as the upper house met, the uproar on the issue forced a 15-minute adjournment.
The Congress questioned if Vaidik was sent as an emissary, and why were the proper channels not followed.
Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said he was surprised Vaidik, who is also a senior journalist, claimed to be an emissary.
"It is most surprising Vaidik claims to be intermediary. Who sent him on the mission?" he questioned.
Congress leader Anand Sharma said: "It is not a small issue. He is not just a journalist. This person claims to be an emissary. Such meeting cannot take place without officials being informed."
"The Ministry of External Affairs will have to give a statement," he said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley clarified that Vaidik was not sent as a government representative.
"As far as government is concerned, Hafiz Saeed is a terrorist. Government of India has nothing to do with any journalist in his individual capacity meeting him," said Jaitley.
Chairman M. Hamid Ansari tried to calm down the members, saying law will take its course if Vaidik has done anything illegal. However, opposition members refused to relent and created a din over the issue.
Amid the uproar, the upper house was adjourned till noon.
Vaidik has said he met Hafiz Saeed July 2 in Lahore and had an hour long chat with him. He has said that he met the 26/11 mastermind in his capacity as a journalist.
Ved Pratap Vaidik, a freelance journalist, met Saeed in Lahore on July 2, while touring Pakistan as part of a delegation invited by a peace research institute. A photograph of that meeting has triggered a storm on social media with the Congress raising Mr Vaidik's reported proximity to the ruling BJP.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tweeted, "Ved Pratap Vedik meets Hafiz Sayeed. Any reaction on Social Media? Did he go as an Envoy of NDA Govt or as a personal Envoy of PM?"
New Delhi accuses Hafiz Saeed of plotting a series of strikes in India including the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 166 people were killed.
The BJP condemned Mr Vaidik's meeting with Saeed and distanced itself from the journalist. "Why he met him and what was his intention, he should tell this himself," said the party's Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
Mr Vaidik, 69, says he met Saeed as "a journalist must meet all kinds of people." He added, "I wanted to prove him wrong and influence his thinking."
He says to a question on Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Pakistan, Saeed told him he is "welcome".
Saeed reportedly also told Mr Vaidik that he hadn't done anything wrong. "He told me former home minister of Pakistan Rehman Malik conspired against him because America wanted him," the veteran journalist said.
Ramdev, a strong supporter of the BJP and Mr Modi, is also facing questions over the meeting.
The yoga teacher has reportedly said he believed Mr Vaidik only wanted to influence Saeed.
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