----------------------------------------------------------------- Goanetter Francis Rodrigues (Vasco/Toronto) book launch in London, England @ the World Goa Day festivities on 15 Aug at 7pm Details http://www.konkanisongbook.com
----------------------------------------------------------------- Herald, Panjim, 13 Aug 2009 Editorial It’s showtime for secularism The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) is back to its usual tricks. It has once more targeted its favourite whipping boy, noted painter M F Husain. HJS convenor Jayesh Thali on Tuesday demanded that M F Husain’s painting titled ‘Standing Buddha’, on display at the state museum, should be removed. Herald carried a photograph of the oil painting in its yesterday’s edition. It shows a white bull against a vividly coloured backdrop. There is nothing even remotely objectionable about the painting. Jayesh Thali admits this. He said that he had no basic objection to this particular painting. But, he says, his outfit is determined to prevent Husain’s art from being displayed publicly throughout India. He has threatened that the HJS would be “forced to agitate” if the painting was not removed from public display Goa Museum Director Radha Bhave refused to take any decision, and said that she will meet ‘higher officials’ first. So now Chief Minister Digambar Kamat – who holds the portfolio of Art and Culture and is therefore the ‘highest’ official – must decide whether he will order the removal of an admittedly unobjectionable painting and allow a Hindu fundamentalist organisation to openly pursue an admittedly political agenda, or whether he will stand up for the rule of law and the avowedly secular policy of his government and party. Mr Thali says that M F Husain has hurt the religious feelings and national sentiments of millions of Hindus and Indians earlier, and that his paintings of Hindu deities and ‘Bharat Mata’ in the nude were thoroughly obscene and in bad taste. Over 1,600 criminal cases were filed all over India against Husain for ‘obscenity’ and ‘hurting religious sentiments’. Hundreds of them were filed in Goa, mainly by HJS and Sanatan Sanstha activists. The Supreme Court asked the Delhi High Court to hear them. There were three main grounds for the complaints against Husain: ‘Obscenity’ (Sec 292 and 294), ‘causing offence to religious sensibilities’ (Sec 295 and 298), and ‘creating ill-will among communities on religious grounds’ (Sec 153), all under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). On 8 May 2008, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul delivered a reasoned judgment rejecting all three grounds and quashing all criminal charges against Husain. “There are many such pictures, paintings, and sculptures, and some of them are in temples also,” the Court said. All the HJS allegations against Husain have already been examined and rejected by the Delhi High Court. Besides, M F Husain has himself long ago apologised in writing for any offence he may have unwittingly caused through his work. He has specifically clarified that the painting most vehemently objected to by the HJS and its ilk had never been titled by him as ‘Bharat Mata’. It does seem that it is not Husain but the HJS that is ‘creating ill-will among communities on religious grounds’ by constantly bringing up non-issues like this that have long ago been settled, both by the courts and by the person in the centre of the storm. Especially so when they themselves admit that the painting they want removed is not objectionable. The HJS complains that the Indian government was quick to ban Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and Hollywood film The da Vinci Code (not true), but takes Hindus for granted. They resent the amount of attention Muslims have commanded when they have been offended by images (like the Danish cartoon) that they consider blasphemous – a concept alien to Hinduism. What do they want really? That Hinduism should be more like Islam and Christianity? We are not at all sure that the majority of Hindus would agree with this. But that is another issue. The point is that the Husain painting in the state museum is not objectionable – even the HJS says so. Therefore, it should under no circumstances be removed. The government of Goa is not here to advance the political agendas of fundamentalist organisations, no matter which religion’s cause they peddle. The museum should get the security it requires. Or, if it decides to succumb to the HJS’s irrational demand, the Digambar Kamat government should stop calling itself secular. -- Whatever it is, I'm against it -- Groucho Marx