The Shiv Sena on Monday refused to call off the protest against the book launch of former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri in Mumbai.
Sena called Sudheendra Kulkarni, the organiser of the event, whose face was blackened by party activists, of being a "Pakistani agent" and threatened to scale up its opposition to the lauch.
Sena leader Sanjay Raut told reporters that "the man who has organised Kasuri’s book launch in Mumbai (Sudheendra Kulkarni) is a Pakistani agent. (Maharashtra chief minister Devendra) Fadnavisji has publicly said that Khurshid won't be allowed to have any anti-India view in his programme and if he does, the organiser will be responsible for it. We welcome the CM's stand."
"Blackening of Kulkarni’s face was a mild protest. Wait to see what happens in the evening if the programme continues," Raut said. The book launch programme involving Kasuri is scheduled for the evening.
Raut said his party has written a letter to Fadnavis giving all proof that "exposes" Kasuri's "anti-India" stand.
Claiming that Sena has no "political agenda" behind opposing the book launch event, Raut claimed while Khurshid was a foreign minister of Pakistan, he was responsible for bringing all extremist anti-India organisations together to "suit their Kashmir agenda."
"When he was foreign minister, he did all sorts of things that were anti-India. We have submitted all of that to the CM and we now expect him to keep his word of not allowing any anti-India stand and intervene and stop the programme," he said.
Raut further claimed that Khurshid’s stand on India during his current trip is "completely different" when he is in Pakistan. "He (Khurshid) was responsible for bringing extremist organisations like the Hurriyat together. He asked all of them to unite that will ultimately give Pakistan strength to fight against India. (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee, while he was prime minister, was forced to talk about war because of this man," Raut said.
He said Sena will continue to boycott all events relating to Pakistan citizens till the neighbouring country stops sponsoring terror.
Earlier in the day, black paint was sprayed on Kulkarni for not bowing down to Sena's diktat seeking cancellation of events having Pakistani connection.
Recently, stiff opposition from the Shiv Sena led to cancellation of Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali's concert in Maharashtra.
Image: Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut
