Sudheendra Kulkarni and former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri at a press conference in Mumbai
Confronting anger over its black paint attack on columnist Sudheendra Kulkarni, who had refused to scrap former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's book launch in Mumbai today, the Shiv Sena today stubbornly defended its actions.
"The ink attack was non-violent, democratic and historic," said Sena's young leader Aditya Thackeray, responding to criticism with a Facebook post.
"Let's not even compare the ink shed on a person who has openly lauded a Naxal sympathiser and endorsed a foreign minister having links with anti-India separatists from the valley, to the bloodshed in our country by terrorists," Aditya, the son of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, added.
The Sena, which co-governs Maharashtra with the BJP, was hit by waves of condemnation over the attack on Sudheendra Kulkarni, a former BJP advisor, this morning. But it seemed intent to sit out the storm even though ally BJP apparently tried to change its mind.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had spoken to Uddhav Thackeray, sources said.
Mr Kulkarni's face was blackened and his clothes, in the colours of the Indian flag, were also stained by over a dozen Sena activists who stopped his car. He refused to wash it off as he spoke to several TV channels and pother media through the day, repeating that the show would go on no matter what.
The Sena has threatened to disrupt the launch of Mr Kasuri's book "Neither a Hawk, Nor a Dove: An Insider Account of Pakistan's Foreign Policy" - organized by Mr Kulkarni's think tank - stating that any engagement with Pakistan is unacceptable as long as it supports terror.
"Whoever organized the function is a Pak agent," said Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut. Last week, the party's objections forced the cancellation of legendary Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali's show in Mumbai.
Before he ran interference with the Sena, Chief Minister Fadnavis of the BJP appeared to send out a mixed message.
"No anti-India propaganda will be tolerated through any such program, if found so, the organisers would be held responsible," he said even as he stressed that it was his government's duty to provide security to all foreigners, diplomats or dignitaries who are allowed on proper Visa.