Very recently, Husain is supposed to have accepted the offer of citizenship from the Arabic state of Qatar. He says he has done it because of a self-imposed exile from his home country of India. How this new citizenship will enable him to visit India is not comprehensible. He has gone in exile because of some legal cases against him, and it is his intention to avoid dealing with them personally. He, of course, says that he is being harassed by the cases.
The cases relate to his paintings of Hindu gods and goddesses in nude and erotic position, which are alleged to have hurt the religious sentiments of those who filed the complaints. The latter have said that if he makes a sincere apology and commits that he will not undertake such an exercise in the future, they will not pursue the cases. But Husain has given no indication that he will do so. Accepting the citizenship of Qatar does not mean that the legal cases are automatically withdrawn.
I had prepared in note in 1996 on the issue of his painting Saraswati in the nude, and addressed the issues raised by those who defended Husain. Subsequently, nude and erotic paintings of other Hindu gods and goddesses have come to light. The defenders of Husain are even today raising the very same issues which they raised then. It should be stated here that the points made by me in the note have also been made by others in different forums. But the defenders of Husain pretend that they do not exist.
In the note, I had said that Husain has apologised for painting the Saraswati in the nude. This he did after an elapsed time from when the apology was first requested. However, when the other paintings came to light, the obstinate attitude that he first exhibited then has become the norm for him. In this he is actively supported by many who go under the rubric of 'secularists'. In fact, at the time of the Saraswati incident many such secularists had expressed displeasure when he apologised. Perhaps Husian feels that his obstinacy has substantial support.
Since then much water has flown under the bridge. Certain events have happened which would, in normal conditions, have made the secularists to do some soul-searching of their own vis-à-vis Husain. Under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, the "union information and broadcasting ministry on Monday issued a showcause notice to Bigg Boss-3, being telecast on Colors channel, for showing content which was "against good taste and decency" and not suitable for unrestricted public exhibition." (http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/india/bigg-boss-served-ib-notice-for-'indecency'.aspx<http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/india/bigg-boss-served-ib-notice-for-'indecency'.aspx> ) In another incident, it is reported as follows: "With Star Plus set to launch the second season of its controversial reality show Sacch ka Saamna, the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has issued the TV channel a warning on the nature and content of the programme and also asked it to ensure that the "Indian ethos" is kept in mind when formatting the international show for Indian viewers." (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/i&b-warns-channel-on-sacch-ka-saamna/547288/<http://www.indianexpress.com/news/i&b-warns-channel-on-sacch-ka-saamna/547288/> ) There is also a following report: "The government on Thursday bannedtwo underwear advertisements - Lux Cozy and Amul Macho - claiming them tobe "indecent, vulgar and suggestive." The Informatio n and Broadcasting ministry has instructed all television channels to stop showing the advertisement with immediate effect. The ads have been considered "indecent, vulgar and suggestive" and thus violative of Rule 7 (8) of the Advertising Code, the Ministry said in its order. The Amul Macho ad showed a newly-wed woman suggestively washing her husband's innerwearat a dhobi ghat." (http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=54239c77-3ded-41b4-bd3d-56c3a6f417e3&&Headline=%E2%80%98Vulgar%E2%80%99+underwear+ads+banned<http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=54239c77-3ded-41b4-bd3d-56c3a6f417e3&&Headline=%E2%80%98Vulgar%E2%80%99+underwear+ads+banned> ) Presumably, depiction of Hindu gods and goddesses in the nude would not fall in the same category as any of the above. Nor have the secularists come out in the defence of the above. In February 2010, in one of the north-eastern state of India, it was noticed th at a school book had a picture of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette in one hand, and a can of beer in another. The books were immediately banned, and a case has been registered against the publisher. It seems that the memory of the secularists is very, very short. Within a span of less than 20 days, they have not seen the irony of their current support of Husain while they ignored this Christ incident. One can narrate many such incidents to expose the hypocrisy of the secularists. Are they so ignorant of these other events, and do not realise their double standards? I personally do not think so. They are just using Husain as another weapon in their attempt to demonise the Hindus and Hindu organizations. But then this is nothing new. Namaste Ashok Chowgule ---------------------------- ALIENATION OF SOME INTELLECTUALS When Shri M F Husain's depiction of Saraswati in the nude came tolight, he could have said, "I did not intend to hurt the sentiments of the Hindus. However, I now see that this could have happened, and, therefore, I am sorry for having depicted Saraswati in the manner I did." That would have been the end of the matter. Shri Vikramrao Savarkar, nephew of Veer Savarkar, had in fact suggested this approach. Shri Husain chose not to follow this advice. The support he received in this obstinacy from the intellectuals not only made the controversy ugly, but has also prolonged it. What is more, it has highlighted, as nothing else could, the way we deal with issues when the sentiments of Hindus come into the picture. The drawing depicts a female nude form with the standard Saraswati symbols of a lotus, a peacock and the musical instrument Veena. The lettering Saraswati (in devnagari) at the bottom clearly identifies the artist's intentions. In case of such a drawing, the issue of aesthetics cannot be discussed. The image of Saraswati is so jarring, that it has to offend one's mind, if one reveres Saraswati. If the picture had the same arrang ement, with the same female form fully clothed, the issue of aesthetics can come into play. If the picture had the same female nude form, without the Saraswati symbols, the issue of aesthetics can also come into play. The question is not of a nude female form, but of a nude goddess. Symbols are very important to society. These symbols can be visual, textual or of some other variety. When we hear the words 'tryst with destiny', the image of Jawaharlal Nehru comes to mind. If Mother Teresa is depicted in a Paithani sari and not in her usual simple garb, the form will be jarring to one's sensibilities. A Paithani is associated with wealth, something that is not of concern of the Mother. If one were to use the aesthetics argument here, then obviously one is barking up a wrong tree. Although the drawing was done about twenty years ago, it has come to light only through a book, Husain - Riding the Lightning, by Shri Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, brought out in 1996. For a long period of t ime, the existence of this drawing was not public knowledge. And hence it would not have created the controversy. Using the 'long ago' argument also implies that a fraud conducted more than twenty years ago, but discovered only now, should not be the concern of the law. Shri Husain has also been supported on the basis of artistic freedom. But, does freedom also not presuppose responsibilities? When Mahatma Gandhi was given a Bill of Rights, he sent it back to the author,saying that he should prepare a Bill of Duties, and from this the Rights would automatically follow. This is the concept of Dharma that exists in our Hindu philosophy, and a person of high social position has a stricter Dharma than a person at a lower level. The former is held as a role model for the rest of society. The intellectuals obviously do not wish to have any duties, but will demand that they enjoy all the rights. Some say that it is prudish to be offended by Shri Husain's drawing, since in Hindu art there are many depiction of nudity, even in temple premises. Thus, if Khajurao is to be accepted, so should Husain's Saraswati. What this line of argument ignores is that what Shri Husain has drawn is not a nude form, but a Saraswati in nude. Khajurao depicts mortal human beings, and the erotic art is restricted to a small partof the total temple art. Similarly, we have Hindu gods and goddesses in what could be determined to be 'intimate' positions, using today's ethical standards. In such a case, the sensibilities are not offended because this is a traditional form of expression. Much has also been made of a 'Saraswati' in nude at a temple. Again, one needs to understand the rule and the exception. This nude 'Saraswati' is not in a temple of Saraswati, and the only way it is identified as Saraswatiis because she is holding a Veena. There are no other Saraswati symbols. Shri Husain is also said to be steeped in Hindu culture. But, does this give him a license to hurt Hindu sensibilities? Does this not put an even greater responsibility on him to show restrain? Moreover, those who have objected to this drawing of Shri Husain have never said that his other depiction of Hindu symbols are objectionable. Again, an irrelevant argument is brought into the picture. All the points put forth by the supporters of Shri Husain's drawinghave been answered. Yet, they go on saying the same thing again and again. Using different words, different structure of sentence, rearranging the position of the points, may be good English, but it does not add anything to the debate. One would like to assume that those supporting the drawing are not stupid or ill-informed - this would be a realinsult to their intellectualism. Therefore, one cannot but help to come to a conclusion that there is a deliberate effort being made to create confusion. This impression is reinforced when it is alleged that Shri Husain is being targeted because he is a Muslim. The question is whethe r Shri Husain has hurt Hindu sentiments. If he has, his religious identity is immaterial. Unless, of course, one starts with a proposition that it is perfectly legitimate for a Muslim to hurt Hindu sentiments. The Husain supporters well know that whenever Hindu sentiments have been affected, various people have objected to the same, even when the ones creating the hurt are Hindus. Numerous examples can be given of such instances. What these supporters (and even Shri Husain) seem to have forgotten is that when he was asked to leave the premises of Willingdon Club, the organisation that supported him was Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Many of the present Husain supporters had actually rationalised the decision of the Club. Does this mean that these supporters were anti-Muslim then? Furthermore, some Muslims have also condemned Shri Husain. Does this make them anti-Muslim too? While these supporters are unrepentant as far as Shri Husain is concerned, they are up in arms ag ainst the reaction of the Bajrang Dal in Ahmedabad. Before condemning, if one does not understand the events that led to it, and some of the subsequent ones, we would be doing a great disservice to rational discussion. Had Shri Husain apologised earlier, would this event have happened? Is blaming Bajrang Dal totally not akin to blaming the Pandavas for the Mahabharat war? Why did Shri Husain suddenly apologise after the event? Does this not mean that in the future a reasonable request will be acceded to only after a drastic action is taken? Since the issues cannot be answered, the programme is to change the terms of discussions from the original one about Shri Husain hurting Hindu sentiments, to the reactions of Bajrang Dal as a stand alone incident. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has requested Shri Husain to make a ceremonious destruction of the offending drawing. In turn, he has 'threatened' that he will destroy all his paintings. The VHP has clearly stated that if he chooses t o do so, then it is his artistic freedom. However, the objective of the 'threat' is to once again confuse the issue, and create another diversion. Clearly, if theapology is sincere, then the existence of the drawing cannot be accepted. Some time back, a fashion house in Europe had made some garments with Arabic verses as a design. When it was found that these were Koranic verses, the fashion house apologised and announced that the dresses were destroyed. In another instance, a popular general-purpose magazine in Japan, Marco Polo, had published an article stating that while six million Jews were killed by the Nazis, the method used was not the gas chamber as is generally accepted. Various Jewish organisations protested at this perversion, and rightly so. The publishers immediately apologised, and on their own volition announced that the magazine would cease to exist. Given this background, it is amazing that some of the Husain supporters are now criticising him for having ap ologised. All of them are continuing their campaign of calumny even after Shri Husain's apology, with the additional target being the Bajrang Dal. What is amusing is that these supporters, who are essentially anti-Hindu, are now usingthe Hindu philosophy to berate their opponents. Their empathy for the Hindu civilisation and culture is well recognised in that they are willing to accept an image of a nude Saraswati - the goddess of learning. These Husain supporters need to do some serious introspection. If they uphold the right of artistic freedom will they support a move toabolish censorship laws, and permit pornography to be displayed in book stalls? Will they come out with a statement saying that they will support the freedom of anyone who depicts symbols of other religion in a mannerthat may cause hurt of the people of that religion? Will they organise the same type of campaign in support of such a person? Before they answer these questions, let them reflect on the proble ms being faced by Prof Mishuril Hasan, the pro-Vice Chancellor of the Jamia Millia University. He had said that while he finds Satanic Verses to be personally objectionable, but banning is not right. Even after three years of the controversy, he is being prevented from entering his office at the University. The manner in which the controversy has raged reveals a lot of the mind set of those who call themselves intellectuals. Whenever issue relating to Hinduism comes to the centre stage, the first reaction is to allege that those who are taking up the issue are wanting to create something out of nothing. When this fails, and the issue is adopted by thepeople, the next stage is one of creating confusion, by bringing in all sortsof unrelated issues. The denial tactics are also very frequently used. In the present case, it is denied that Hindu sentiments are hurt. Due to the tensions that this insidious programme produces, a reaction takes place. Then the issue becomes the react ion, without taking into cognisance the events leading to this reaction. The whole objective, right from the beginning, is to deny legitimate requests made byHindus. At the same time, whenever other religious communities makeunreasonable requests, the 'intellectuals' will be in the forefront of demandingthat the same are immediately acceded to. Their plea is that the minorities are insecure in this country, and therefore their feelings must not be upset. The rights or the wrongs of the issue are not for consideration, just as in the case of permitting the just requests of the Hindus. It is puzzling to understand why all this happens. The only logical explanation can be that the intellectuals are so alienated from the society, that they are unable to comprehend how the masses think so differently from them. They are so ensconced in their own very small world, that anything outside it is unreal. And because they read what they want to read, they do not have the feedback from t he people at large. For them, an event like the mass celebration of Pandurang Shastri's birthday, by lakhs of people converging at Chowpatty in Mumbai, is incomprehensible. The tragedy for the intellectuals is that the publications that they normally read find it demeaning to coversuch events, except as a small news item. However, a Michael Jackson event becomes big news. Reading what they do, the intellectuals think that there is no world beyond it. If they at all read how the Marathi and Gujarati papers have covered the Husain controversy, they will think that there is another parallel controversy going on, which they are unaware of. The manner of the English press coverage also highlights another tactic used. Those artists who have spoken against Shri Husain are mentioned once, and rarely repeated. However the Husain supporters will find themselves in the news all the time. It does not matter that they keep saying the same inane things again and again. The impression that is sought to be created is that the artist community is fully behind Shri Husain. If in the process the people think that this is actually so, the ones to be blamed are not the vocal supporters, who, after all,have a larger agenda in mind. Blame should be entirely put on those silent opponents of this picture of Shri Husain, since they do not have the courage to let the people know it. In every society, the intellectuals have an important role to play. They can do this only if they involve themselves in the lives of the people that they would like to lead, and deal with issues that are of concern to the people and not to themselves. October 21, 1996.
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