Decoding Ved Pratap Vaidik – Saeed Meeting
July 16, 2014
Before I analyse, I must acknowledge Ved Pratap Vaidik’s seniority as a journalist. He has held all those coveted positions that a budding journalist aspires for. Decades ago when he joined the profession, journalism for many was more of a mission than a profession – a mission to spread awareness, educate, and be a fierce arbiter of probity in public life …till things changed and market considerations took over that space.
Vaidik himself vouches for press freedom and declares himself to be a ‘free’ person. Over the years he has cultivated a good readership for his writings.
But he stirred a controversy after he tweeted from Pakistan the photograph of his meeting with Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the dreaded head of Jama’at-ud-Da’wah – banned as a terrorist organisation by India, the United States, Russia, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The United Nations has placed sanctions against Saeed’s terrorist organisation while the US has put a reward of $10 million on his head for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Yet, Saeed is a free man in Pakistan.
There seems more than what meets the eye given Vaidik’s volte face after he stressed for more power to all parts of Kashmir and told Pakistan’s Dawn news channel that if Kashmiris in both the countries were ready, the region could be made an independent country. However, after his return to India, he claimed that he actually favoured more independence for Kashmir but not secession.
What seems even more bizarre is that the Vaidik-Saeed conversation is still not published anywhere till the time of writing this blog. Why has he purportedly withheld its publication? This is one question that intrigues many and leads to suspicion about the meet. Vaidik has clarified that he would publish it soon. But, why didn’t he keep the interview a secret till then? After all, as a journalist, we all know about the value of a scoop and strive hard to keep it a secret till it is published or aired! We also know about the vested interests that want to dilute or suppress news for ulterior motives. As for selectively leaked news, this is done by a politician or a stakeholder to gain mileage. In this particular case, journalist Vaidik himself selectively leaked the news of his interviewing the mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai blasts. What stake did he have there?
Initially, the Opposition parties suspected this meeting as part of track-two diplomacy. Some even suspected the journalist to be an envoy of Prime Minister Modi. (Journalists have often been used for such purposes. One such example was R Gopal, Editor of Nakkeeran, who worked as a mediator between the government and the dreaded sandalwood smuggler Veerappan). After all, Vaidik had gone to Pakistan as part of an Indian delegation that included parliamentarians from different parties too. He though stayed back there while others returned.
Naturally, a concerned Indian Parliament raised the issue and the Opposition sought a reply from the Government, which has asked the Indian High Commission in Pakistan to submit a report on this contentious issue. The government has denied any role in the meeting and the treasury as well as the Opposition benches have unanimously condemned it.
There are some serious issues involved too as raised by the Opposition parties. An important question is whether the Indian intelligence agencies alerted the government about this meeting and, if not, then how they failed to get any information about such sensitive issue.
So, what was Vaidik doing with Saeed – the most wanted terrorist in India along with Dawood Ibrahim? What type of pleasure did this eminent journalist derive from posting such photographs? Was it sheer urge of exhibitionism, self accolade or a signal of sorts of an accomplished mission given the Indian opposition parties’ charges of him being in cahoots with the government? Or was it just an attempt of a freelance journalist to lure the bidders for this interview? (Given his self-professed standing, he must be commanding a good price in the market anyways).
Daggers are drawn because of his proximity to many political bigwigs. The Congress has called him an RSS agent. The BJP has pointed out some of his articles in praise of Rahul Gandhi while the media has referred to him sharing the dais with Narendra Modi during the election campaign.
Given his recent interviews to the media, it seems obvious that Vaidik loves dropping names and does not feel any compunction in boasting of his connections. There may be nothing wrong in this. But can he flaunt his connections for getting personal mileage out of it? By tweeting his photo with Saeed rather than the interview, he has fuelled fierce speculations about his motives.
As a journalist, I know we can meet and interview anybody – even the most dreaded terrorists. Otherwise, the freedom of the press would be in peril. Yet, these meetings are meant for the public. The person who is interviewed too expects the interview to be published or aired. The purpose of such interviews is well defined – it has to be in the larger public interest.
Even if Vaidik has not committed any crime by meeting Saeed (a journalist meeting a terrorist is different from a separatist leader like Yaseen Malik meeting Saeed in 2013), he has erred on several other counts.
Any cub reporter can tell you that journalism requires cultivating sources – both good and bad. Yet there is a marked difference between a good journalist and a public relations manager because the former even risks losing friends for the sake of an unbiased story. It goes beyond saying that journalism is one of the institutional checks on abuse of power but for that a journalist is ideally required to keep those in power at arm’s length. Only then he can hold them accountable.
With due respect to his age and seniority, I am afraid Vaidik has failed on this count. He should have avoided flaunting his proximity to big names, and focussed on his reports.
http://www.elections.in/blog/decoding-ved-pratap-vaidik-saeed-meeting/
Comments
Post a Comment