BackVice President Hamid Ansari not invited to Yoga day event
BJP general secretary Ram Madhav had earlier stoked a controversy by questioning Ansari's absence at the event
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New Delhi: Vice President Hamid Ansari was not invited to the Yoga Day event in New Delhi, his office said on Sunday.
Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Ram Madhav stoked a controversy by questioning Ansari’s absence at the Yoga day event but later apologized after he was criticized on the social media platform.
Madhav, a prominent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader, also accused Rajya Sabha TV, the public service broadcaster run by Parliament’s Upper House, of blacking out the Yoga Day event “completely" despite being run on taxpayers money. As Rajya Sabha chairman, Ansari is the controlling authority for the channel.
In his first tweet, Madhav said, “Two questions. Did RS TV dat runs on tax payers money completely black out Yoga Day event? While President participated d VP gave a miss (sic)." The BJP leader’s allegation against Rajya Sabha TV was immediately countered by others, who tweeted screen shots of the channel’s coverage of the yoga events.
Madhav later apologized in another. “I am informed dat d VP was unwell. I withdrew my tweet. My apologies because d institution of VP deserves respect (sic)," he said in another tweet. As the topic trended, he subsequently deleted both the tweets.
Some pro-BJP commentators complained on Twitter that RS TV, which is funded by the taxpayer, had not shown live the yoga day event at Rajpath. Social media attacked Madhav with some dubbing his criticism of the vice president as ‘shameful and embarrassing’.
Madhav also drew flak for making an issue of Ansari’s absence when participation in Yoga day events was meant to be voluntary.
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