Former Deputy Prime Minister of India, L.K. Advani outrightly condemned the attack on his erstwhile aide Sudheendra Kulkarni, allegedly by activists of NDA ally Shiv Sena in Mumbai over organising a book release function for former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri.
“I strongly condemn whosoever has done this,” said Mr. Advani, adding that “of late we have seen an increase in cases of intolerance, this is against democracy.”
Significantly, Mr. Advani had, on the 40 anniversary of the Emergency in June, said that conditions that could give rise to another Emergency today continued to prevail in India.
Mr. Kulkarni, under the aegis of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) was organising the launch of Mr. Kasuri’s book Neither a Hawk nor a Dove: An Insiders Account of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy . The Shiv Sena had openly opposed the function and this morning its activists allegedly smeared black paint all over Mr. Kulkarni.
