.The big question posed recently by M.F Hussain's controversial paintings. Should artists be given liberty to express their creativity by making drawings and cartoons of Gods and Goddesses ? A freedom of expression also warrants responsibility towards society. One should not outrage any community, culture or civilization. Any sensitive action that could hurt religious sentiments and explosive enough to stir global fallout should be condemned from the very onset. Freedom of expression is fine but even a freedom with no limitations is likely to play havoc. A free society does not give anyone the authority to Sacrilege. I do not support violence as justified in the name of god. However passive, religious tolerance is just as criminal as the offender and taken as community's meek surrender. It is common knowledge that Hindus in general are pacifist to the point of reticence unlike Muslims. If this was not so, Hussain's work would have attracted a similar kind of ire that the cartoons regarding Prophet Mohammad in Danish Magazine.
There is nothing wrong if Hindu organization like HJS demonstrate their resentment sans violence because our sentiments are humiliated in the guise of freedom of expression. Being a Hindu my blood was literally boiling when I saw these pictures on HJS site and I had a splitting sense of revulsion when some persons in this forum brazenly defending this spineless swine. This guy is no stranger to erotic art, but with the passage of time and as he gets older, his artistic sense borders on the macabre. One thing to be noticed that his all paintings have the male animals having sex with hindu godesses. Mostly, it is Sita, Parvathi, Laxmi and Saraswati. Its never mother Mary or prophet Mohammd's wives or sisters. On 9th of January 2008 a Delhi court summoned M.F. Husain to appear before it in a case pertaining to his work which hurt religious sentiments Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) A.K. Kuhar directed Husain to appear before March 29. Husain, currently living abroad in self-imposed exile, is facing criminal prosecution for his controversial paintings in as many as six cases. The cases filed in different states were clubbed by the Supreme Court and transferred from different courts to the ACMM's court. Vinay