MUMBAI/DELHI, Oct 12: Taking forward its campaign against Pakistani personalities, Shiv Sena activists today 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.
“We won’t be cowed down by such events and the book launch will happen as planned,” he said and soon after was present at a media interaction along with Kasuri while still drenched in paint.
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.
“They are so upset about ink. Imagine when our soldiers are killed and their blood is spilled. It is not ink, it is the blood of our soldiers,” Raut said.
Kulkarni had met Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter’s residence ‘Matoshree’ in Mumbai late last night, but failed to get any assurance from him about peaceful 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.
“I do not know who has done it and therefore I cannot name anyone. But whosoever has done it, has besmirched the good name of the country,” the former deputy Prime Minister said.
Kulkarni has served as speechwriter 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.
“The Constitution has given right to everyone to protest in a democratic way. One should only lodge protest under the law and this will act to strengthen our democracy,” he said on the sidelines of a BSF event in the national capital.
Rijiju said law and order is a state subject and in a case where a foreigner has come to India for unveiling of a book but has not acted against the country, such an act should not have happened.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi claimed incidents of “intolerance” have risen over the last 18 months after the BJP came to power.
“I cannot find words strong enough to condemn the incident. It is not a case of Kulkarni or Kasuri. It is the case of liberal democratic ethos of India…. Almost every day, we are witnessing such incidents.. They are creating mutual antagonism. There is a clear connection with the party in power, with a remote control in Nagpur.
“The only person who can stop this is the Prime Minister and, unfortunately, he keeps silence on these issues,” Singhvi said.
CPI leader D Raja said that Sena’s actions were “highly deplorable”.
“Shiv Sena should not resort to such politics which is not in line with the Constitution. Such actions show intolerance and also that it is against any effort to build good relations with Pakistan,” he said.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh slammed the attack on Kulkarni saying “such intolerance in India can’t be tolerated. First Ghulam Ali concert and now Kasuri’s book launch, we don’t want a Desi Taliban in India.”
On his meeting with Sena chief, Kulkarni said, “I pointed out to Uddhavji that Kasuri should be allowed to put forth his views. I also told him that if Sena has a different view point, they could protest in a democratic, peaceful manner.”
“The Sena president told me that unlike Ghulam Ali, Kasuri was not an artist but was part of the machinery which perpetrated terror,” he told PTI.
Kasuri, on his part, said,”I am not depressed by things like these as I know there are people in Pakistan and India who do not want good relations between the two nations. I have been a political worker myself, I understand political protests, but it should be in a peaceful manner.”
“I was not a minister during Kargil or 26/11,” Kasuri noted.
It was brought to the Sena leader’s attention that Kasuri in his book has criticised non-state actors perpetrating terror, Kulkarni said.
The Sena, which shares power with the BJP in Maharashtra, has written to the director of Worli’s Nehru Centre to cancel the event because of the Pakistan connection.
Amid mounting criticism of the incident, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said security will be provided to all dignitaries visiting the state.
“It’s our government’s responsibility to provide security to all foreigners, diplomats or dignitaries who are allowed on proper visa,” he said. (PTI)
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