Season of open letters: Shiv Sena scion Aaditya Thackeray pens a note to Rajdeep Sardesai

A season for open letters? Maybe. After the Shiv Sena activists on Monday attacked chairman of the Mumbai chapter of the Observer Research Foundation, and organiser of the book launch event Sudheendra Kulkarni, and smeared his face with black paint , senior journalists called out to Shiv Sena and slammed the party for supporting such ‘hooliganism’. One of the senior journalists who said the act was ’truly shameful’ was Rajdeep Sardesai.

Black paint attack on @SudheenKulkarni for organising Kasuri book release. Truly Shameful. What has happened to my M'tra @AUThackeray ?

— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) October 12, 2015

But Sardesai did not stop at the tweet. The veteran journalist and consulting editor of India Today has written an open letter to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s son and Yuva Sena president Aaditya Thackeray over the ink attack. [caption id=“attachment_2465658” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Aaditya Thackeray (left) and Rajdeep Sardesai (right). IBNLive[/caption] In the letter, titled ‘Why don’t you defend state’s pride by helping Marathwada farm widows?’, Sardesai offers ‘advice’ to the Thackeray scion ‘since we went to the same college’. Sardesai slammed the party and added that he was not surprised by the Sena’s reaction to Kasuri’s book and the party activists’ attack on Sudheendra Kulkarni because this was not the first time that the party had attacked individuals on whim. Sharing a personal experience, where Sena activists had tried to attack Sardesai years ago over a story, he wrote “Then, your grandfather Balasaheb was the supremo, now you and your father seek the mantle.” Not long after Sardesai’s letter went viral on social media, Aaditya Thackeray took to Facebook and typed out a long reply to the senior journalist. Thackeray’s response is sarcastic and the youth leader attacks Sardesai on a personal front when he says, " I am not angry with you. Anger/frustration occurs with when hopes are destroyed. Maybe that explains why I am not angry with you." Thackeray, in his letter, tells Sardesai that while the veteran journalist is focussing “on being allowed to enjoy concerts, cricket and such events”, the Shiv Sena and its ‘soldiers’ are sad to see the acts of terrorism from Pakistan. “So, I guess some things would never change…” The Thackeray scion goes on to say how Kulkarni “openly lauded a naxal sympathiser” and endorsed a foreign minister who had links with “anti India separatists from the valley, to the bloodshed in our country by terrorists.” “It is the job of the soldiers to fight for us, they signed up for it. We did not ask them to. We signed up to be normal citizens and not bother what happens at our borders. Lets mingle, let’s chill, while they kill our people and soldiers. Right?” You can read Aaditya’s full reply  here:

Dear Rajdeep,I thank you for the season of open letters and getting some fitting replies to it too. May be it isn’t… Posted by Aaditya Thackeray on  Monday, 12 October 2015

More from Mumbai

Analysing the Otters’ way of life: Why this mammal is facing an existential crisis in India World Environment Day: This 18-yr-old is waging a war against Mumbai's coastal road project; nature warriors show small steps can make big impact

Earlier, Sardesai, in another open letter, had slammed the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his silence over ban on beef in the state and not doing enough for the plight of the farmers in Marathwada.