Ved Pratap Vaidik (1944-2023) was an Indian journalist, speaker, political analyst and freelance columnist. He is known for making history by giving all Indian languages the right to serve as a medium of expression at the highest academic level. He is the president of the Bharatiya Bhasha Sammelan, an organization that protects the rights of Indian languages. He is best known for his 2014 meeting with terrorist mastermind Hafez Saeed. He died of heart disease on March 14, 2023 at the age of 78.
Wiki/Biography
Ved Pratap Vaidik (also known as Dr. Vaidik) was born on Saturday, December 30, 1944 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh (age 78; at time of death). He received his BA in Political Science, Philosophy, Sanskrit, Hindi and English from Vikram University, Ujjain in 1963. He received his Master’s degree in Political Science from Christian College, Indore, University of Indore in 1965. Studied Russian in 1967; In 1968, he studied French at the School of International Relations, Jinan University. In 1971, Vaidik received a PhD in international affairs from Jawaharlal Nehru University. While researching Afghan foreign policy for his doctoral thesis, Vaidik worked at Columbia University in New York, the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and the Institute of Asian Peoples in Moscow. He also traveled to Afghanistan for extensive fieldwork for research.
Scholarships and Fellowships
Dr. Vaidik has received numerous scholarships and fellowships. Won the National Scholarship from 1963 to 1964. He also received a University Grants Commission Scholarship (1964-1966). He served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Indian Council of Social Science Research for two years (1981-1983). He conducts research as a senior fellow at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis and the School of International Relations (JNU).
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′8″
Hair color: semi-bald
Eye color: black
family
He belongs to an Arya Samaj family in Indore.
Parents and siblings
There is not much information about his parents and siblings.
wife and children
His wife Dr. Vedavati Vaidik passed away in April 2019. She is a retired professor from Delhi University, South Campus.
Ved Pratap Vaidik’s wife Vedavati Vaidik
He left behind a son named Suparna Vaidik and a daughter named Aparna Vaidik.
Profession
reporter
Ved Pratap Vaidik started his journalism career in 1958 as a proofreader. He served as Editor (Viewpoint) at Navbharat Times, a Times Group company, for 12 years. He was the first co-editor of Navbharat Times and later became editor of the ideological department. He is the founder of ‘Bhasha’, a Hindi news agency of the Press Trust of India, where he served as editor for more than a decade. He served as Editorial Director of the multilingual portal “netjall.com”. He writes independent columns for various news portals like Prabhasakshi. In a career spanning more than four decades in journalism, he has written for Nai Duniya, Dharmyug, The Times of India, Hindustan Weekly, Strategic Analysis and World Focus.
teacher
Dr. Vaidik is a Visiting Professor of International Politics and Journalism at many Indian and foreign universities. He taught political science at Hastinapur College (now Motilal Nehru College), University of Delhi, for four years (1970-1974).
orator
Ved Pratap Vaidik participated in speech contests during his school days and college days. When he was a teenager, he began speaking at public gatherings. He has been invited to deliver special lectures by many institutions and universities in India and abroad. He has represented India in many international seminars. In 1962, he worked for All India Radio and Doordarshan Radio and recorded more than a hundred programs. Dr. Vaidik has also been interviewed by many foreign news channels such as BBC and Voice of America, as well as many radio and television stations in Europe and Asia. In 1999, he delivered three speeches as a member of the Indian delegation to the United Nations. That same year, he spoke at the South Asia World Conference hosted by the University of Wisconsin.
hindi satyagraha
Dr. Vaidik is very passionate about Hindi. He founded the Hindi Satyagraha literary movement and was first imprisoned in 1957 at the age of 13. His doctoral thesis, titled “A Comparative Study of Afghanistan’s Relations with the United States and the Soviet Union,” was rejected by JNU because he wrote it in Hindi, and he was expelled from the university. After being expelled from the university, he took the matter to the Indian Parliament and many prominent political leaders like Dr. Rammanohar Lohia, Madhu Limaye, Acharya Kriplani, Hiren Mukherjee, Prakashveer Shastri, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Chandrashekhar, Hem Barua supported him and reserved his rights. It caused uproar in parliament for two years (1966-1967). Thereafter, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Dr. Zakir Hussain, Dr. Sampnanand, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, Dr. Trigon Sen, Ramda Lee Singh Dinkar, Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan, etc. also collaborated and along with Hindi, all other Indian languages also gained recognition as the major languages of India for the first time. The medium for doctoral dissertations.
Meet Hafiz Saeed
In 2014, Dr. Vaidik traveled to Pakistan with a group of journalists, foreign policy experts and politicians to participate in the Track II Conference on India-Pakistan Relations organized by the Regional Peace Institute. On July 2, he met terrorist mastermind Hafiz Saeed during a visit to Pakistan, and leaders of the Congress party (then an opposition party) questioned his meeting with the terrorists and demanded his arrest. Opposition parties raised the issue of Dr Waidik’s meeting with Hafiz Saeed in Parliament, claiming that the meeting could not have taken place without permission from government authorities; however, the government denied this. The then deputy speaker of Congress, Rahul Gandhi, claimed that Dr Vaidik was a member of the RSS; however, Gandhi’s claim was later denied by former RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav. He has also been called Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special envoy by the opposition parties. He responded in an interview,
I have never been an envoy to any Prime Minister; I am my own envoy. I met with many presidents and prime ministers as well as rebels. I am not an envoy to any Prime Minister. “
He made a statement at the Ajmer Literary Festival saying he would “spit on all 545 MPs if they support the MP who declared him a “traitor and anti-national” during his meeting with Hafiz Saeed ”, which landed him in another controversy. . He believes journalists should engage with a variety of people.
Dr. Vaidik and Hafiz Saeed
books
Ved Pratap Vaidik has written many books on international politics and journalism, including Indian Foreign Policy: New Pointers (1971), Afghanistan: Kal, Aaj Aur Kal (2002), Mahshakti Bharat (2005) Year), The Crisis of Sri Lanka: India’s Choice (1986) and Modi ki Videshniti (2017). His doctoral thesis, Soviet-American Rivalry in Afghanistan (National Press, 1973), was the first book on international politics written in Hindi. His book Hindi News: Various Dimensions (1976) has been called by critics the “Encyclopedia of Hindi News”. He has also written many books on Indian languages, including Bhartiya Bhashayen Lao: Kyon Aur Kaise, Hindi ka Sampurna Samachar Patra Kaisa ho? (1994) and “Angrezi Hatao: Kyon Aur Kaise?” (1973). He wrote a pamphlet called English Abroad, in which he claimed that no self-respecting developed country should be forced to work in English; instead, there should be the freedom to work in the native language.
dispute
Controversial Remarks on Kashmir Separation
Dr. Vaidik made controversial remarks on the Kashmir issue during an interview during his visit to Pakistan in 2014 to attend the Track-II Conference on India-Pakistan relations organized by the Regional Peace Institute, and was subsequently heavily criticized by the media and politicians of different stripes. attack. Dr Vaidik reportedly said that it would be good to make Kashmir an independent country. However, he later said in an interview that he was talking about freedom for Kashmir, not secession. He said,
I have always supported Azadi (freedom) for the people of Kashmir. Azadi is, separation is not. The people of Kashmir should be free like the people of Delhi. ”
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- In 1972, Kabul University awarded him a scholarship of 10,000 rupees for writing a paper on Afghanistan.
- In 1976, Ved Pratap Vaidik was awarded the Govindvallabh Pant Award by the Uttar Pradesh government for his book “A Comparative Study of Afghanistan’s Relations with the United States and the Soviet Union”.
- In 1988, he was awarded the Purushottam Das Tandon Gold Medal by the Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sahitya Sammelan for the promotion of Hindi language.
- In 1989, he was awarded the Madhuvan (Bhopal) Journalism Award for “Best Kala Acharya”.
- In 1990, the Hindi Journalism Institute in Delhi awarded him a prize of Rs 21,000.
- In 1990, he was awarded the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Award.
- In 1992, he was awarded the “Lala Lajpat Rai Award” by the Indian Cultural Council.
- Dr. Vaidik was awarded the ‘Ramdhari Singh Dinkar Shikhar Samman’ in 1992 by the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.
- In 2003, he was awarded the title of Vishwa Hindi Sammelan Samman.
- He was awarded the ‘Anuvrat Writer’s Award’ in 2021.
Ved Pratap Vaidik wins ‘Anuvrat Writers Award’
- In 2022, he was awarded the Newsmaker Achievement Award.
Dr. Vaidik receives Journalism Achievement Award
- During his school and college years, he was awarded “Special Merit Certificates” several times for attaining the highest marks in Political Science, Philosophy and Hindi.
die
Ved Pratap Vaidik passed away on March 14, 2023 due to heart attack. He reportedly collapsed in the bathroom of his Gurgaon residence and was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead.
Facts/Trivia
- He was fluent in various foreign and Indian languages, including Russian, Persian, German and Sanskrit.
- Dr. Vaidik is a traveling scholar and journalist who has visited more than 80 countries.
- In 1999, Ved Pratap Vaidik became a member of the Indian Mission to the United Nations.
- Dr. Vaidik has served on various advisory committees to the Government of India.
- He heads the Bharatiya Bhasha Sammelan, an organization fighting against mandatory teaching of English in academic institutions.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education