Sena blackens Kulkarni’s face

Fails to stop Kasuri’s book launch

Mumbai: Belligerent Shiv Sena activists abused and blackened the face of veteran journalist and L K Advani's former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni to protest his organising the launch of former Pakistani foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's book here on Monday but the event went on ahead amid high security.

The incident created a nationwide outrage with condemnation from all major political parties, including the state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which is in alliance with the Sena both at the Centre and in Maharashtra.

Taking the Sena's challenge headlong, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assured that the function would be held and full security would be provided to the event and the visiting dignitary.

The state government ensured tight security at the venue, Nehru Centre in Worli, where "Neither a Hawk Nor a Dove: An Insider Account of Pakistan's Foreign Policy" was released peacefully.

The attack happened when Kulkarni was leaving his home in Sion in south-central Mumbai, when a group of around a dozen Sena activists accosted him.

They shouted slogans and asked him to cancel the event and then smeared him with black ink.A shaken but determined Kulkarni, chairman of think-tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF), told mediapersons that Sena had repeatedly warned against holding the event ".

Kasuri said he was "saddened and unhappy by this attack on Kulkarni, whom I have known for many years" and condemned it. "I have come with a message of peace...

An overwhelming majority of people in both countries want peace between the two countries... But, there are some who don't want India-Pakistan peace," he said.

Senior BJP leader Advani in New Delhi and party spokesman minced no words in protesting against the Sena actions, while social networking sites condemned what many termed "Shiv Sena hooliganism".

Several top Congress leaders also condemned the attack. Though virtually isolated, the Sena appeared undeterred by the backlash and vowed to continue its anti-Pakistani protests in different forms.

"You have witnessed what is going on since morning. Kasuri has arrived in Mumbai for the function arranged by Pakistani 'agent' (Kulkarni)," Shiv Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut told media persons.

"We are not concerned by who is condemning the action. Our agitation will continue. It is not a political agitation, but a patriotic one against the forces attempting to break and divide the country," he said.

The Monday incident came close on the heels of last week's threats by Sena leading to cancellation of two concerts - in Mumbai and Pune - by renowned Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali.