Now that the intrepid Ved Pratap Vaidik is back from his travels among the Jamat-ud-Dawa, the government version of Track II diplomacy looks as boring as a position paper from the gobar gas department. This is the real thing — flying under the radar, making contact with South Asia’s most wanted man, asking after his three wives, and getting him to express an interest in visiting India to argue his case.
One only wishes that Vaidik had taken advantage of the fruity air of bonhomie and escorted the notorious terrorist Hafiz Saeed back to India, to make his case in the highest courts. Saeed’s protege Ajmal Kasab almost had to do that, when Mumbai lawyers refused to serve as his counsel. Or, Vaidik could have shared his travel plans with the Americans, who are sometimes willing to put the drone before the law in such matters. He really should work on his follow-through, for in a persistently troubled world, the possibilities of tackling intractable international issues by blundering into them is almost endless.
In his maiden venture in metre gauge Track II diplomacy, Vaidik, who has been a journalist and is an aide of Baba Ramdev, has caused collateral damage to the government he supports. It is like a self-goal, only more impressive. The Rajya Sabha was adjourned following an uproar. Prominent ministers like Arun Jaitley and Prakash Javadekar had to distance the government from Vaidik’s Pakistan visit. Ramdev rustled up covering fire. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju clarified that “a journalist can’t be regulated”. Maybe this is the secret weapon to address vexed cross-border issues — an unregulated journalist with a loose cannon in each hand. The outcome may be unpredictable and inconclusive, but at least something lively happens — if only in Parliament.
