Shiv Sena has smeared ink on face of tolerance
By its utterly despicable conduct of blackening former BJP ideologue Sudheendra Kulkarni's face on Monday, the Shiv Sena has shown that it has failed to grow up as a mature party which respects freedom of expression and believes in civil forms of protest. Mr Kulkarni's sin was that, as chairman of the Mumbai chapter of the Observer Research Foundation, he decided to organise a function to launch Pakistan's former Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's book, Neither a Hawk Nor a Dove, in Mumbai. Mr Kulkarni had met Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray a day before and said he shared the Sena's concerns on the Pakistani role in fomenting terror against India. He also conceded that the Shiv Sena had every right to protest peacefully against the event but that there should be no violence. Unfortunately, Mr Thackeray did not commit himself to the peaceful means, and Mr Kulkarni ended up with his face smeared with ink (or whatever else) by a bunch of people who shouted slogans in Shiv Sena's favour as he got into his car to proceed for the function. The Sena has always been known for its disruptionist brand of politics, and it actually believes that its muscularity has millions of takers in the country. The party may have some support, but the fact is that even the so-called hardliners will find it difficult to condone the Monday incident. The Shiv Sena has not only dented its own image further, but it has also embarrassed the country before a Pakistani guest. Mr Kasuri was quick to capitalise on the incident by subjecting the audience at the book launch to a lecture on the values of democracy and tolerance — two virtues that are missing in large quantities in his home country. By its actions that were supposedly meant to protest against the launch, the Shiv Sena has actually ended up becoming the chief promoter of Mr Kasuri's book, which is bound to do well in India. Had the Shiv Sena participated in the event and delegated some of its more articulate and knowledgeable members to question the former Pakistani Minister on the issue of Pakistan-promoted terror against India, the party would have created a more lasting and welcome impact, and Mr Kasuri would have been denied the positive publicity that he eventually received. It was a good occasion to have exposed Mr Kasuri, who is now strutting about like a dove, but had been a key player in a hawkish General Pervez Musharraf’s regime.
Besides bringing discredit to the country's democratic ethos and smearing itself with notoriety, the Shiv Sena also caused deep embarrassment to the Devendra Fadnavis Government, of which it has been a part. For sometime now, the Sena has been behaving more like an opposition party than a partner of the BJP, not just in Maharashtra but also at the Centre. It must be said to the Fadnavis administration’s credit that it stood by the organisers and did not succumb to the Sena's strong-arm tactics. It may be recalled that Mr Fadnavis had also assured full protection to the Ghulam Ali show in Mumbai and Pune, which had been scheduled days before the Kasuri event. The function was not held because the organisers, exercising caution, decided to cancel it in the face of the Shiv Sena's threat of disruption. let's now see which way the BJP-Sena relation goes.