Waqf power at work
New battle-lines are being drawn in Parliament, and out of it, with waqf and its management at the centre of a major political slugfest.
Former Vice-President Hamid Ansari and the Congress party, on Wednesday, denied any dealings with Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza who has reportedly claimed that he had passed on the information collected from Ansari during his visits to India to Pakistan’s ISI between 2005 and 2011.
”Yesterday and today, a litany of falsehood has been unleashed on me personally in the sections of the media and by the official spokesman of the BJP,” Ansari said in a statement.
He said it was a known fact that invitations to foreign dignitaries were on the advice of the government generally through the Ministry of External Affairs. He said he had never invited or met the Pakistani journalist.
Advertisement
Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said; ”Insinuations and innuendos by a spokesperson of the BJP against Sonia Gandhi, Congress President & Hamid Ansari, former Vice-President of India, are to be condemned in the strongest possible language.”
He said the levels that the Prime Minister and his party colleagues would stoop to debase public debate and spread their patented brand of lies was staggering. ”It reflects sickness of mind and lack of any form of integrity whatsoever,” Jairam added.
Earlier, the BJP asked the former Vice-President and the Congress to come clean on the claims of the Pakistani journalist that he had visited India five times during the UPA rule and passed on sensitive information to ISI.
BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia cited Nusrat Mirza’s purported comments that he had visited India on Ansari’s invitations and also met him.
Advertisement
