India’s Parliament and media has been held hostage for two days now, because Ved Pratap Vaidik, an Indian who describes himself as “eminent journalist, ideologue, political thinker, social activist and orator” met Hafiz Saeed in Lahore. It's the stupidest of controversies, eating up precious legislative time and making a mountain out of a molehill.
The controversy was raked up by the Congress party, which is seeking to present itself as nationalist and the nationalist-party-now-in-power as anti-national. Television news refuses to be left behind in this competition to show who is more patriotic. It is astonishing that the Congress party – or anyone – thinks that meeting someone is in itself a crime. The media and opposition parties are demanding that Vaidik is arrested. Few more ridiculous things have been said. Whether Vaidik is a journalist or self-promoting operator, whether he was an emissary of Narendra Modi or someone trying to become one, whether he is close to the Congress or an aide of Baba Ramdev, whether he is associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or whether his meeting with Saeed was facilitated by the Indian government... meeting anyone is not a crime.
It is a comedy of sorts, in which Vaidik must be laughing at us all. Why did he wait 12 days before revealing he had met Hafiz Saeed by putting a picture of the meeting on his website and Twitter page? In hushed voices, the word in Delhi's power corridors is that upon his return Vaidik was trying to sell himself to the Modi government as the man who could be their link to India’s enemy. Unable to get such attention, he decided to go public. Like many traversing Delhi’s roundabouts these days, he's been trying to get the attention of the only man who matters, Narendra Modi. The last post on his website says, “what a spellbinding budget by Modi.” The disclosed details of the meeting with Hafiz Saeed are all about Modi. He even tells us that Saeed asked about the touchy subject of Modi's wife!
It is true that Vaidik co-authored a report on black money with Ajit Doval, now the National Security Advisor to prime minister Narendra Modi. It is true he was also a journalist. He was the founding editor of Bhasha, the Hindi wire service from the Press Trust of India. It is true he’s studied South Asian dynamics for some time, having visited and written on conflicts in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, apart from Pakistan. And it is also true that you don't get a meeting with Hafiz Saeed upon a whim. Somebody has to facilitate it.
Yet are there any charges against Vaidik? Did he plan another attack on India with Saeed? Did he reveal any state secrets? Did he laud Saeed for the terrorist attack on 26/11? “I wanted to know what kind of a man he is and why he committed heinous crimes against India. I wanted to analyse his mind,” Vaidik has said.
The Pakistanis aren't happy about this either, by the way, considering they don't want India-Pakistan relations fixating upon 26/11 once again, a point from where both countries thought they had moved on, talking trade and visas.
India has not been able to do anything about 26/11. India can't get Hafiz Saeed. India can't go and get who it wants from Pakistan. India doesn't have the diplomatic leverage to make Pakistan give up what the Pakistani deep state considers assets. That leaves India with only one option, which is to talk to Pakistan. Given the complexity of the India-Pakistan dispute, it is important that all kinds of people talk to each other. Hafiz Saeed is not only a man India wants for 26/11, he also represents the extreme right-wing fringe within Pakistan, which opposes talks and good relations with India, and which sees Indian conspiracy in whatever goes wrong in Pakistan. It is a no-brainer that it’s in India’s interests to try and understand Saeed.
Far more anti-national than meeting Hafiz Saeed is asking that an Indian who met Saeed be arrested. Our vacuous furore over a non-issue only sends a message to Pakistan that India isn't as tolerant a country as it pretends to be. As is often the case in Pakistan, our nationalist sentiments are so fragile they can be hurt by one Ved Pratap Vaidik.
Postscript: Do you sense a sense of jealousy in the media that the Indian media doesn't get such audience with Hafiz Saeed?
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The controversy was raked up by the Congress party, which is seeking to present itself as nationalist and the nationalist-party-now-in-power as anti-national. Television news refuses to be left behind in this competition to show who is more patriotic. It is astonishing that the Congress party – or anyone – thinks that meeting someone is in itself a crime. The media and opposition parties are demanding that Vaidik is arrested. Few more ridiculous things have been said. Whether Vaidik is a journalist or self-promoting operator, whether he was an emissary of Narendra Modi or someone trying to become one, whether he is close to the Congress or an aide of Baba Ramdev, whether he is associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or whether his meeting with Saeed was facilitated by the Indian government... meeting anyone is not a crime.
It is a comedy of sorts, in which Vaidik must be laughing at us all. Why did he wait 12 days before revealing he had met Hafiz Saeed by putting a picture of the meeting on his website and Twitter page? In hushed voices, the word in Delhi's power corridors is that upon his return Vaidik was trying to sell himself to the Modi government as the man who could be their link to India’s enemy. Unable to get such attention, he decided to go public. Like many traversing Delhi’s roundabouts these days, he's been trying to get the attention of the only man who matters, Narendra Modi. The last post on his website says, “what a spellbinding budget by Modi.” The disclosed details of the meeting with Hafiz Saeed are all about Modi. He even tells us that Saeed asked about the touchy subject of Modi's wife!
It is true that Vaidik co-authored a report on black money with Ajit Doval, now the National Security Advisor to prime minister Narendra Modi. It is true he was also a journalist. He was the founding editor of Bhasha, the Hindi wire service from the Press Trust of India. It is true he’s studied South Asian dynamics for some time, having visited and written on conflicts in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, apart from Pakistan. And it is also true that you don't get a meeting with Hafiz Saeed upon a whim. Somebody has to facilitate it.
Yet are there any charges against Vaidik? Did he plan another attack on India with Saeed? Did he reveal any state secrets? Did he laud Saeed for the terrorist attack on 26/11? “I wanted to know what kind of a man he is and why he committed heinous crimes against India. I wanted to analyse his mind,” Vaidik has said.
The Pakistanis aren't happy about this either, by the way, considering they don't want India-Pakistan relations fixating upon 26/11 once again, a point from where both countries thought they had moved on, talking trade and visas.
India has not been able to do anything about 26/11. India can't get Hafiz Saeed. India can't go and get who it wants from Pakistan. India doesn't have the diplomatic leverage to make Pakistan give up what the Pakistani deep state considers assets. That leaves India with only one option, which is to talk to Pakistan. Given the complexity of the India-Pakistan dispute, it is important that all kinds of people talk to each other. Hafiz Saeed is not only a man India wants for 26/11, he also represents the extreme right-wing fringe within Pakistan, which opposes talks and good relations with India, and which sees Indian conspiracy in whatever goes wrong in Pakistan. It is a no-brainer that it’s in India’s interests to try and understand Saeed.
Far more anti-national than meeting Hafiz Saeed is asking that an Indian who met Saeed be arrested. Our vacuous furore over a non-issue only sends a message to Pakistan that India isn't as tolerant a country as it pretends to be. As is often the case in Pakistan, our nationalist sentiments are so fragile they can be hurt by one Ved Pratap Vaidik.
Postscript: Do you sense a sense of jealousy in the media that the Indian media doesn't get such audience with Hafiz Saeed?
