New Delhi:
The meeting between 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and a journalist close to yoga teacher Ramdev has led to a massive row in Parliament.
Targeted by the Congress, the ruling BJP asserted that it had nothing to do with freelance journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik's meeting with the Jamaat ud Daawa chief on July 2.
"The government has nothing to do with any journalist's activity in his individual capacity," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in the Rajya Sabha, where protests forced the house to adjourn twice.
Mr Vaidik met Saeed while touring Pakistan along with a group of journalists and politicians invited by a peace research institute.
As a photograph of that meeting circulated on social media, 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?"
In the House, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress asked, "Who sent him on the mission?"
Mr Vaidik, 69, who met Saeed while touring Pakistan along with a group of journalists and politicians invited by a peace research institute, said later on Monday, "There is no question of my being an envoy. I have never been a special envoy for any PM, I am my own envoy."
He said he met Saeed as "a journalist must meet all kinds of people" and added, "For a journalist, no one is untouchable. I wanted to prove him wrong and influence his thinking."
The journalist also said that to a question on Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Pakistan, Saeed told him he is "welcome".
Baba Ramdev, who was a vocal supporter of the BJP and Prime Minister Modi during the general elections, said today, "I am sure VP Vaidik tried to change Hafeez Saeed's heart,"
New Delhi accuses Saeed of founding the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and of plotting a series of strikes in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008, in which 166 people were killed.
Though Saeed is on India's most wanted list and has a US bounty of 10 million dollars on him, he roams free in Pakistan and often addresses public rallies in which he routinely makes inflammatory statements.