Shiv Sainiks intercepted the car of Kulkarni, chairman of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a foreign policy think tank, just outside his Matunga home and painted his face black.
A defiant Kulkarni, however, said he will not be "cowed down" by such actions and go ahead with the evening launch of Kasuri's book 'Neither a Hawk nor a Dove: An Insider's Account of Pakistan's Foreign Policy'.
"We won't be cowed down by such events and the book launch will happen as planned," he said and soon after was present at a media interaction along with Kasuri while still drenched in paint.
Kasuri denounced the attack on Kulkarni for not bowing down to the Sena's fiat and said,"I recognise people's right to protest, but what has happened with Sudheendra Kulkarni is not protest."
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"Nations are made with a positive mindset, we need a positive mindset," he said addressing a joint press conference with Kulkarni.
"Smearing ink is a very mild form of democratic protest. We don't know if ink or tar was smeared. Nobody can foretell how public anger will explode.
"They are so upset about ink. Imagine when our soldiers are killed and their blood is spilled. It is not ink, it is the blood of our soldiers," Raut said.
Kulkarni had met Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence 'Matoshree' in Mumbai late last night, but failed to get any assurance from him about peaceful conduct of the book launch function.