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New Delhi: Former RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav, now a BJP general secretary, was the first in his party to strike a jarring note on Yoga Day.
He questioned Vice-President Hamid Ansari’s absence at the event on Rajpath and then Rajya Sabha TV for allegedly blacking it out.
Ansari, also the Rajya Sabha chairperson, was instrumental in launching a separate channel for the upper House, shortly after the Lok Sabha had got a dedicated channel.
In a tweet, Madhav, who used to be the Sangh’s spokesperson till he was inducted into the BJP in 2014, asked: “Two questions. Did RS TV dat (that) runs on tax payers’ money completely blackout Yoga Day event? While President participated, d (the) VP gave a miss.”
Later in the day, social media retaliated, a typical response being that of Shiv Kumar@journoshiv: “We see Hamid Ansari but this Sanghi (Madhav) sees a Muslim!”
Madhav withdrew his tweet and posted an apology. “I am informed dat d (that the) VP was unwell. I withdraw my tweet. My apologies because the institution of VP deserves respect.”
An employee of the Rajya Sabha channel said there was live coverage from 6.40am – from the time Narendra Modi entered Rajpath – till the Prime Minister left.
A well-known columnist, who often espouses the BJP’s viewpoint, had also earlier in the day accused the Rajya Sabha channel of blotting out Yoga Day. The columnist tweeted: “All news channels showing Yoga Day except India’s only taxpayer funded Left channel: RS TV.”
Within minutes, the channel’s CEO, Gurdeep Singh Sapal, responded, saying: “For those who missed it, RS TV’s YouTube link to PM’s address on Yoga Day, carried live on RS TV.”
Sources in the BJP have been upset with Sapal’s stewardship of the channel for a long time because he was part of the Congress war room before the 2009 and 2014 elections and was, therefore, marked out as “partisan”.
When contacted, Sapal, who is also the officer on special duty to Ansari, said the Vice-President had not been invited to the Yoga Day event. The Vice-President, he added, never travels without an invite.
This was the second time this year that BJP and RSS backers had hit out at Ansari. On January 26, some of them had alleged that Ansari had disrespected the national flag by not saluting it and tweeted a picture of him standing in attention during the R-Day march past.
Ansari’s office had later issued a note, saying: “Those in civil dress stand in attention. During the Republic Day parade, the President of india as Supreme Commander takes the salute. As per protocol, the Vice-President is required to stand in attention.”
