The Shiv Sena and the BJP continued their war of words against the backdrop of Monday’s paint attack on the Observer Research Foundation chairperson and former BJP ideologue, Sudheendra Kulkarni. The attack has brought the ruling alliance to the brink.
In a veiled attack on the BJP through an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamna , the Shiv Sena lashed out at the “atmosphere of pacifism” created by the BJP governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, citing the recent attempts to host cultural events of Pakistan nationals like ghazal maestro Ustad Ghulam Ali.
The Sena forced the cancellation of Ghulam Ali’s concerts in Mumbai and Pune, arguing that it would never allow Pakistani nationals to perform in India so long as Pakistan backed terrorism aimed at India. Sena activists doused Mr. Kulkarni with paint for organising the launch of the former Pakistan Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s book. They also called him a “Pakistani agent.”
In the editorial, the Shiv Sena said that at a time when intelligence agencies alerted all the States to the entry of five Pakistani terrorists into India to cause trouble ahead of the festival season, people from Pakistan were being feted in the country as “peace ambassadors.”
“Three of these terrorists, Mohammad Aijazudden, Amjad Khan and Mehboob Guddu, belong to the Students Islamic Movement of India and had broken out of the Khandwa jail in October 2013, carrying out several low-intensity blasts. They are still at large. Now, to pacify Pakistan, our countrymen will have to spill blood,” it said.
The party further targeted Mr. Kulkarni, saying: “The Central intelligence agencies ought to let the ORF chairperson know the whereabouts of the terrorists so that he can arrange a sort of felicitation ceremony for them.”
