Former BJP ideologue Sudheendra Kulkarni, with face blackened by Shiv Sena activists, and former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday, October 12, 2015. (Press Trust of India photo)
The Congress today condemned the
paint attack allegedly by Shiv Sainiks on Sudheendra Kulkarni, the organiser of former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's book release in Mumbai.
"The Indian National Congress unequivocally condemns the attack by
Shiv Sena on Sudheendra Kulkarni. If Shiv Sena wants to give an answer to Pakistan, they should go to the border and fight them," Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar told the media in New Delhi.
Barely hours ahead of the launch of former Pakistani minister's book, Mr Kulkarni, a former journalist and chief of think tank Observer Research Foundation, alleged he was abused and attacked with paint by suspected Shiv Sainiks in Mumbai.
The Congress demanded a "strong" intervention by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis into the incident. "It is clear that it is a fixed match between BJP and Shiv Sena. We want to say that the Maharashtra Chief Minister should strongly intervene in this incident," the spokesperson said.
"When the President of India gave some lessons of tolerance to the prime minister, the PM was forced to say something... We have seen how the renowned ghazal exponent Ghulam Ali was stopped from performing in Mumbai," the Congress leader said.