By IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 31 Oct 2015: In three weeks, three different men were painted black – ironically by the followers of saffron ideology. Saffron wants to paint the entire country in its colour. Those who want to resist it are being painted black – so deeply that it is hard to identify them. The black spots on the faces of Kulkarni, Rashid and Bhaikatti are actually black spots on the face of the great plural, liberal and secular country called India.
On 12th Oct in Mumbai, eminent writer and columnist Sudheendra Kulkarni was attacked with ink allegedly by members of Shiv Sena in Mumbai. Former BJP think tank and advisor of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Kulkarni was in a tricolour attire he wore purposely for the book launch of former Pakistan Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. Kulkarni was abused by the attackers and his face and clothe were completely blackened with ink. Sena had opposed the event and demanded its cancellation.
On 19th Oct in Delhi, Sheikh Abdul Rashid (popularly known as Engineer Rashid), an Independent legislator of Jammu and Kashmir, was assaulted and his face blackened by members of a little-known Hindu Sena at Press Club of India for hosting a beef party in the valley last month.
On 30th Oct in Latur (Maharashtra), senior RTI activist Mallikarjun Bhaikatti was assaulted and his face blackened by some members of Shiv Sena. According to reports, he was badly beaten up and his face splattered with ink after he ‘threatened’ to expose irregularities in the construction of a local school’s premises.
In Sep, a Muslim man was lynched by a mob in Dadri area of Uttar Pradesh over rumours that he ate and stored beef. Since the 28th Sep incident, two more Muslims – one in Himachal Pradesh and another in Jammu and Kashmir – have been lynched over the beef issue.
Moreover, three intellectuals and writers have also been murdered by right-wing fringes.
In protest against the attacks on writers and the rising intolerance in the country, over 60 writers, poets, scientists and filmmakers have returned their awards.
