Taking forward its campaign against Pakistani personalities, Shiv Sena activists on Monday blackened the face of ORF chief Sudheendra Kulkarni over his refusal to cancel the book launch function of former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, drawing strong condemnation from political parties.
Shiv Sainiks intercepted the car of Kulkarni, chairman of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a foreign policy think tank, just outside his Matunga home and painted his face black.
A defiant Kulkarni, however, said he will not be “cowed down” by such actions and go ahead with the evening launch of Kasuri’s book ‘Neither a Hawk nor a Dove: An Insider’s Account of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy’.
“When I got out of my home this morning, a group of Shiv Sainiks stopped my car. When I came out, they smeared me with black paint. They abused me,” Kulkarni alleged. Kasuri denounced the attack on Kulkarni for not bowing down to the Sena’s fiat and said,”I recognise people’s right to protest, but what has happened with Sudheendra Kulkarni is not protest.”
“Nations are made with a positive mindset, we need a positive mindset,” he said addressing a joint press conference with Kulkarni. Shiv Sena, however, defended the action with party MP Sanjay Raut terming it as a “very mild form” of protest.
“Smearing ink is a very mild form of democratic protest. We don’t know if ink or tar was smeared. Nobody can foretell how public anger will explode.”
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis on Monday disapproved of Shiv Sena’s protests against the launch of former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s book here saying the issue had brought disrepute to the state.
“We may not agree with views of somebody, but when a foreign dignitary or a diplomat arrives on a valid visa and holds a programme, which is not illegal, it’s the duty of a state to provide protection,” Fadnavis said while reacting to Shiv Sena’s protests.
Kulkarni had met Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter’s residence ‘Matoshree’ in Mumbai on Sunday <g data-gr-id="60">night,</g> but failed to get any assurance from him about <g data-gr-id="59">peaceful</g> conduct of the book launch function. A similar threat by Shiv Sena had recently forced the organisers of concerts of Pakistani Ghazal singer Ghulam Ali to cancel his shows planned in Mumbai and Pune.
The incident drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, with BJP patriarch L K Advani, with whom Kulkarni has been closely associated, voicing concern over “growing intolerance” in the country towards any counter viewpoint.
“I strongly condemn whosoever has done it.... In the last few days, there are these signs...where any person or any point of view is not acceptable, then you resort to violence or turn intolerant towards them. “This is a matter of concern for the nation. Democracy must ensure tolerance for a different point of view,” Advani said in Delhi.
Kulkarni has served as speech writer for BJP veterans Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani. Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju also disapproved of Shiv Sainiks’ action, saying everyone has the freedom to protest but not physically harm anyone.
“This is about mentality...In this country, everyone has a fundamental right to protest but there has to be a way to protest, not physically harm anyone. This is not right,” he said. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi claimed incidents of “intolerance” have risen over the last 18 months after the BJP came to power.