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Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman of the Observer Research Foundation Mumbai, with his face smeared with black ink, speaks to journalists in Mumbai. (Source: Reuters photo)
The Opposition strongly condemned Shiv Sena’s ink attack on Observer Research Foundation (ORF) chief Sudheendra Kulkarni on Monday over his refusal to cancel the launch of a book penned by former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.
The Congress and the Left seized the opportunity to target the Narendra Modi-led government. The Congress said that the incident is a manifestation of the “malice of intolerance and suppression of voices at whim that has increasingly becoming prevalent in the last 16 months”.
Watch Attack On Sudheendra Kulkarni By Shiv Sena Activists: An Analysis
“Such intolerance in India cannot be tolerated. First Ghulam Ali concert and now Kasuri’s book launch. We don’t want a desi Taliban in India,” Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh said.
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Party spokesperson Ajoy Kumar said: “The fringe seems to have become the mainstream which is threatening to destroy the idea of India. Indeed, it is unmaking India.”
“Even Mr Advani is telling this government that there is a great deal of intolerance. A person like Advani, who is involved with the Babri Masjid demolition, even he feels that there is a growing intolerance, then you can imagine how intolerant this country is becoming,” he said.
CPM politburo member Brinda Karat condemned the incident and demanded action against the Sena workers who carried out the attack. “Modi model is not Make in India but breaking in India and pillars are competitive communalism, intolerance and misogyny and casteism,” he said.
CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy called the ink attack a blot on the freedom of speech. “It is not only a failure of the ruling coalition but also shows its totalitarian attitude promoted by Sangh Parivar. This is not an isolated issue as growing intolerance is reflecting across the country,” he said.
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