Mass Favours Hussain

Sad to read that the acclaimed artist M.F.Hussain accepted the nationality of Qatar. He was living in a self-imposed exile after he faced the wrath of custodians of culture, who vandalized his art gallery and threatened him.

It is an irony that we can decorate a person with Padma Shri to Padma Vibhushan but cannot guarantee him a respectful and safe living condition in his own country.

We can waste crores of rupees in the security of criminals and terrorists, be it Ajmal Kasab or Abu Salem but we display the highest level of indifference when it comes to performing our duties towards the bonafide citizens.

We can boast our democratic values by welcoming Dalai Lama, Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasreen and so on, but shamefully fail to provide the same conducive atmosphere to our assets like M.F.Hussain.

Episode of Hussain is the glaring example of our narrow mindedness and biased approach towards art and culture. Every responsible citizen of our country will be unanimous towards the fact that if there is any deliberate attempt to let down any religion, caste, creed, gender or society, it should be dealt firmly as per the rule of law not through hooliganism.

India is a country where art and art forms covered all aspects of life and nudity was never considered to be a taboo, interestingly it was most prominently displayed in the temples and other sacred places. It shows that our ancestors were mature and more balanced in their approach and they saw nothing blasphemous in it.

Now when we brand ourselves much more civilized and educated, our behavior has taken a reverse direction. This downswing is unfortunate and just not acceptable.

We welcome and request Sri M.F.Hussain to come back to India and live the life the way he likes, and appeal to our nation lovers to see that no one can dare to harm him.