No regrets on meeting Saeed:Vaidik

Vaidik , who is a senior journalist, told NDTV: "Regrets? Apology? These are strange words coming for a journalist. Why should a journalist need to apologise?" 

"When I went to Pakistan, a meeting with Hafiz Saeed wasn't planned. Journalists there asked me - you criticise Hafiz Saeed so much, have you ever met him? I have been in journalism 55 years and I have never said no to meeting anyone," he said. 

Parliament witnessed noisy scenes on Monday over the meeting of an Indian journalist, who is a close associate of Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, with 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan during a visit of scribes to that country organized by a peace research institute.

The journalist in question is Ved Pratap Vaidik, who is a freelancer and a columnist and his meeting with Saeed went public with a social media photograph of the same. He met the Jamaat-ud-Dawa head responsible for the Mumbai attack of 2008 in Lahore on July 2, said reports.

In Parliament, Congress members like Anand Sharma fumed and said Vaidik met the most wanted terrorist of the world and there was no action. He should be arrested, Sharma said.

The government defended itself on the matter.

"The government has nothing to do with any journalist's activity in his individual capacity," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in the Rajya Sabha, emphasising that it is not directly or indirectly connected to the meeting.

While Congress is up in arms and said Vaidik is close to the BJP camp, Baba Ramdev said Vaidik met the dreaded terrorist in his capacity as a journalist.

Vaidik himself also defended his meeting and said he met Saeed as a journalist and for a journalist no one is untouchable.

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 ?

According to his Wikipedia profile, Ved Pratap Vaidik  is a scholar, political analyst and free lancer columnist of India. It says he had been with Press Trust of India as the founder-editor of its Hindi news agency “Bhasha”. Before that he was the Editor (views) in Nav Bharat Times. At present, he is the Chairman of Bhartiya Bhasha Sammelan.

Baba Ramdev  also defended Vaidik and said he met Saeed as a senior journalist and tried to change his heart.