Govt apologises for Madhav's remark against Vice-President

Red faced after The BJP’s general secretary Ram Madhav’s controversial tweet questioning the absence of Vice-President Hamid Ansari on International Yoga Day, the government on Monday came up with a clarification and apologised for Madhav’s remark, saying Ansari could not be invited for the event owing to protocol issues.

“Unknowingly, something happens, we apologise for that. It should have been avoided. It’s a mistake. He (Madhav) agrees. He apologised. He withdrew his statement,” Union Minister of State for Ayush Shripad Naik said when his comments were sought on Madhav’s tweet.

The minister said when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief guest at the mass yoga event on Rajpath on Sunday, it was not proper to invite the Vice-President. 

“That is protocol. That’s why we did not send the invite to him. President and Vice-President are above the Prime Minister as per order of precedence and we cannot invite them accordingly.” he said.

The Vice-President’s office said the matter was closed as the minister’s statement “seems logical”. “For us, that’s the end of the matter,” it said, adding Ansari practices yoga regularly.

In an embarrassment to the government, Madhav had on Sunday questioned the absence of Ansari at the Yoga Day event on Rajpath. As his tweet stoked a controversy, he later apologised for it and deleted his post on the twitter, saying he later learnt that the Vice-President was unwell. The Vice President’s Office later responded to his tweets and said Ansari had not been invited by the government to attend the event. It also rejected Madhav’s claim that Ansari was unwell, saying the “Vice-President was not sick.”  

Though Madhav apologised once again for his remarks and sought that the issue be put to rest while speaking to media in Jammu, the Congress continued its tirade against the Narendra Modi government and the BJP.