Amid the rising tide of intolerance, even former BJP member Sudheendra Kulkarni was not spared by the Shiv Sena as his face was painted black with ink.
On Monday morning, when Kulkarni was inside his car near his house, a group of Shiv Sena workers asked him to get off his car in the garb of having a talk and threw ink at him.
The incident of Shiv Sainiks throwing ink on Sudheendra Kulkarni comes after he disregarded the party’s demand to cancel the event of a book launch by former Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri on Monday morning.
Kulkarni told the media during the press meet, "I have taken a principled stand on the issue. I will not cancel book launch, it will be launched on Monday evening. I am not scared to name the Shiv Sena. I am saddened by the attack. Shiv Sainiks abused me and threw ink on me. I will not cancel launch of book." Kasuri, however, told the media that he was concerned over the attack and the book launch.
In a reaction to this, Sena's Sanjay Raut told CNN-IBN, “Ink attack on Kulkarni is a mild reaction from Sena, this is not ink but the blood of our soldiers.”
In the wake of famed Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali’s event being cancelled last week due to the party’s hostile stance against Pakistanis alleging the neighboring country to be perpetrators of terror, this is the second instance of Sena’s highhandedness.
Following threats issued to the former Pak minister, the Maharashtra Government has assured adequate security for him during his stay.
While speaking about his book, "Neither a Hawk, Nor a Dove: An Insider Account of Pakistan's Foreign Policy", Kasuri said, "This book is to ensure peace between India and Pakistan."
As a result of this latest turn of events, it would be interesting to see how the friction between the two allies, who form a coalition government in Maharashtra, will play out in the coming days.
This latest round of events is not the only issue on which the two parties have locked horns. Even during the Jain fasting period of 'Paryushan', the Sena opposed the meat ban put into effect by the State Government.