Mumbai: Sudheendra Kulkarni, who heads the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), was on Monday attacked allegedly by Shiv Sena party leaders, ahead of a book launch of former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri being organised by ORF.
“Shiv Sena activists threw ink at me and smeared my face. They abused me,” Kulkarni alleged and said that his Observer and Research Foundation (ORF), a foreign policy think-tank, will hold Kasuri’s book launch as planned in Mumbai later today. “We won’t be cowed down by such events and the book launch will happen as planned,” the organiser said.
Kulkarni, who was a speechwriter for former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, met Uddhav Thackeray last night at Matoshree to seek his assurance over Sena’s threat to disrupt the event. However, the talks ended on a stalemate and Kulkarni said he was determined to carry on with the book launch.
Kasuri’s book ‘Neither a Hawk nor a Dove: An Insider’s Account of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy’ is scheduled to be launched today evening at an event in Worli area. Earlier, Sena has forced organisers to cancel Pakistan ghazal singer Ghulam Ali’s concert in Mumbai and Pune.
