On Sunday the vice president Hamid Ansari and the Rajya Sabha TV that he heads were in news.
Right wing journalists and senior members of the BJP began to float what appeared to be quite disturbing allegation against a country’s top constitutional office.
BJP sympathiser Swapan Dasgupta was one of the firsts to tweet questioning the editorial decision of Rajya Sabha TV for not cutting live to the event at the Rajpath, where little over 37000 people had gathered to take part in International Yoga Day celebrations.
His tweet read, ” All news channels showing Yoga Day, except India’s only taxpayer-funded left channel : Rajya Sabha TV.”
His tweet opened a pandora’s box with dozens of prominent right wing twittratis taking on to twitter to vent out their their frustration against RS TV and most importantly Hamid Ansari.
Some desperately tried to establish a link with Hamid Ansari, a Muslim vice president and the Rajya Sabha TV he heads. Twitter users were not the only one criticising him. Even the senior functionaries of the BJP questioned why he was absent from the Rajpath on Sunday.
BJP leader Ram Madhav, tweeted.
Madhav’s tweet left nothing for imagination. His tweet appeared to suggest that there was a link to Rajya Sabha not showing live the IYD and the VP not attending the event.
Soon, Madhav realised his mistakes and was forced to issue a correction. His next tweet said,
Funnily enough, he suddenly remembered the sanctity that the VP office ‘deserved.’
This is not the first time the BJP supporters have launched what many would describe an utterly distasteful campaign against Ansari.
During the Republic Day Parade earlier this year, while everybody gave salute to the national flag during the singing of national anthem, Ansari was seen standing with his hands down.
This prompted the pro-Hindutva supporters to sharpen their knives against him with many even questioning his patriotism. This despite the fact that there’s no established practice of saluting the national flag during the national anthem.