Sena Dissent Against Kasuri Book a New Descent in Indian Politics

The politics of India should not encourage a descent to a not-so-subtly orchestrated intolerance, says C Uday Bhaskar

A New Low in Indian Politics

• Act of smearing author Sudheendra Kulkarni’s face with black ink sparks outrage.
• Cyber space abuzz with people who justify the act as a retaliation of LoC killings.
• Justification of an abominable incident like this sends chilling reminder of the Dadri lynching.
• This is not the first time that the Shiv Sena has held the city to ransom over issues pertaining to Pakistan.
• The naturally argumentative Indian revels in dissent and intense debate.

The ‘soft protest’ by some members of the Shiv Sena wherein they blackened the face of Sudheendra Kulkarni in Mumbai on Monday (Oct 12) has elicited a wide range of responses in cyber-space, TV studios and among the political parties.

The provocation was the launch of an 850-page book titled “Neither a Hawk Nor a Dove: An Insider’s Account of Pakistan’s Foreign Relations Including Details of the Kashmir Framework” by former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri.

One constituency in India is outraged that such an act could be committed in public by a local political party and that the state government had chosen to be a passive observer. National television showed the blackened visage of Mr Kulkarni – a former aide of the erstwhile PM Vajpayee and senior BJP leader LK Advani – and the stoic manner in which he exercised his right to organise the book launch at a public event in Mumbai.

Jingoism Justified?

Concurrently the cyber world was abuzz with a range of opinions – most of them outraged by the intolerance on display; but many expressing tacit support for the Shiv Sena and its ‘patriotic’ stand. The latter was with reference to the killing of Indian soldiers the previous week across the Line of Control and that it hurt the sentiment of some Mumbaikars to see a former Pakistani Minister and Musharraf aide being felicitated in this manner. The extrapolation was that the Shiv Sena was giving vent to this outraged sentiment – but in a ‘soft’ manner - by merely inking the face of Mr. Kulkarni.

Horrid Recollection of Dadri

It cannot be ignored that the Kulkarni incident follows the lynching at Dadri (Sep 28) and while the two events are unrelated, one refrain is cause for deep concern. In both instances, the actions of the perpetrators of the violence – however soft or murderous – have been ostensibly rationalised (by those seeking to grudgingly allow such transgression) under the rubric of ‘hurt sentiment’.

This is a dangerous slope but recall the justification that followed the Dadri lynching. It was averred that the local Hindu sentiment had been ‘hurt’ over the rumour that Mohammad Akhlaq’s family had eaten beef. Apologists for this murder repeated this hurt sentiment and resultant emotion as the cause for the incident – and that it should not be blown out of proportion.

The killing of an innocent Indian citizen was glossed over and red herrings drawn about not allowing this to be seen as yet another instance of Muslim minority persecution – one that followed the inglorious track-record of the UP government.

Shiv Sena and Pseudo-patriotism

Fast forward, to Mumbai and the Kulkarni incident. This is not the first time that the Shiv Sena has held the city to ransom over issues pertaining to Pakistan. In fact, under the prevailing political orientation of the country and the Maharashtra state – it will not be the last. The Shiv Sena has arrogated the right to decide whom to meet from Pakistan and a twitter post reminds us that the late Bal Thackeray had met then Pakistan High Commissioner Ashraf Jahangir Qazi in 1998.

But 2015 is not 1998 and the current Sena leadership has drawn a ‘lakshman rekha’ and any transgression apropos Pakistan would be met with a ‘soft’ protest with a sub-text that imposes self-regulation. Today it is Pakistan and tomorrow it could be the bruised local sentiment over the exodus of ‘foreigners’ in the city. Again, this is a familiar pattern, and the politics of stoking linguistic sub-nationalism and related exclusion has been deftly exploited in Mumbai.

Apologists have resorted to sophistry and tried to interpret the Kulkarni incident as a storm in a tea-cup and at best a ruse to garner free publicity and increase the sale of the book! This is a misleading and dangerous formulation that refuses to recognise the increasing intolerance accompanied by violent intimidation that is slowly enveloping India.

The naturally argumentative Indian revels in dissent and intense debate . The politics of India should nurture this ethos and not encourage a descent to a not-so-subtly orchestrated intolerance.

(The writer is a leading expert on strategic affairs. He is currently Director, Society for Policy Studies.)