[ALOCHONA] A Portrait of India's Intolerance
M.F. Husain's case is a proof that Hindus are not as crazy as Moslims because Moslims went berserk worldwide, protesting, vandalizing, beating up other people and and also killing some just because a Danish Newspaper had published a Cartoon showing Turban of Prophet Mohammad looking like a Bomb.
Mr. Husain, did a lot worse than that by showing a Hindu goddess nude in his Painting. No Hindu killed him. He died rich of an old ripe age of 84. If you Hindu Haters are so worried that India does not have have enough Show Rooms for his Paintings, tell us, how many showrooms 44 Moslim Countries of the world have that Moslim Painter?
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--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Isha Khan <bdmailer@...> wrote:
>
> A Portrait of India's Intolerance Country's speech restrictions didn't allow
> M.F. Husain to paint in peace.
>
> By SALIL TRIPATHI
>
> The Wall Street Journal – June 14, 2011
>
> Maqbool Fida Husain was India's most celebrated painter, and his death in
> London last week was front-page news across the subcontinent. However,
> toward the end of his life, Husain had trouble finding galleries willing to
> show his work. He lived in Dubai, Doha or London for most of the last two
> decades because he couldn't paint in peace in his own country, even becoming
> a Qatari national last year.
>
> Husain's story says much about modern India. The troubles started in 1996,
> when the magazine Vichar Mimansa ("Discussion of Thoughts") published a
> decades-old sketch that showed a nude Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of
> learning. That discovery electrified Hindu activists, who began filing
> lawsuits against the painter for hurting their sentiments. These activists
> were able to persecute Husain by taking advantage of laws intended to
> prevent the incitement of religious hatred. Though the Indian constitution
> guarantees freedom of expression, it allows "reasonable restrictions" to
> safeguard "the interests of the sovereignty and integrity" of the country
> and "public order, decency or morality." The penal code makes it a crime "to
> outrage religious feelings" and also outlaws "promoting enmity" between
> different groups on the basis of religion, race, place of birth, residence,
> language—and the all-inclusive "etc."
>
> Fringe Hindu groups claimed to have been offended by the artist's work, and
> pressured the authorities to initiate proceedings. Indian courts often throw
> such cases out, but there were multiple cases against him. When a few of
> them reached the Delhi High Court on appeal, it ruled in Husain's favor. So
> did the Supreme Court in a similar case. But the court judgments did not
> stem the tide of vitriol. Vigilantes continued to file cases against him,
> attacked his works and damaged the studio of a television network that
> polled its readers on whether Husain should be given India's highest
> civilian honor.
>
> An artist with weaker convictions would have stopped painting altogether,
> but Husain continued to portray the many colors of this pluralist democracy.
> Born around 1915, he got his artistic start painting cinema posters.
> Formally trained at the prestigious Sir Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy School of Art
> in Bombay, he was an integral member of the Progressive Artists' Group,
> which brought together leading modernists soon after India's independence in
> 1947. He painted horses all his life; his other recurring themes included
> celebration of Indian music, Sufi art and the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata.
> Since 1996, he continued to paint Hindu deities as well as paintings
> inspired by Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit, whom he called his muse.
>
> But he couldn't go on very long. At one count last decade, there were
> hundreds of cases pending against him across India, and some death threats
> too. Instead of defending Husain's right to express his imagination, the
> authorities did nothing, actually adding to pressure from activists. In
> 2006, several state governments decided to prosecute him for outraging
> feelings after he painted "Bharat Mata" (Mother India) in the nude. The
> controversy scared those who otherwise would have been happy to exhibit his
> work, including the organizers of the 2008 Indian Art Fair in Delhi, which
> had the works of 300 artists but not Husain's.Exasperated by the lack of
> support from the Indian state and the continued harassment—both physical and
> legal—Husain gave up. He was living outside India anyway, and last year he
> publicly renounced his Indian citizenship.
>
> Hindu nationalists justified their attacks on Husain's art by noting that
> the Indian state has allowed other faiths to block literature that has
> offended them. India was the first country in the world to ban Salman
> Rushdie's "Satanic Verses." Muslim activists last year chopped off the hand
> of T.J. Joseph, a university professor in Kerala, because he gave an exam
> question that was deemed insulting to Muhammad. Christian groups have
> protested films like "The Da Vinci Code" and "The Last Temptation of
> Christ."
>
> To be sure, a large number of books get published in India, hundreds of
> films get made and galleries hold many exhibitions without incident. But
> artists like Husain inhabit speech at the edge of acceptability, speech that
> challenges conventional thought. The controversial sketch of Saraswati, for
> example, is an elegant white-on-black line drawing, which makes the viewer
> reflect on the old Indian tradition of "nirakara," or formlessness. Yet
> instead of questioning themselves when provoked, extremist Hindus, like
> extremists from other faiths, have reacted with anger.The trouble is that
> along with such sectarian anger comes New Delhi's timidity in protecting
> individual rights. Hindus have every right to peacefully protest Husain's
> depictions, but Indian law allows them to become vigilantes who chill all
> expression.
>
> India will now try to claim Husain as a son of its soil. Someone will
> suggest issuing a postage stamp in his name. Others will talk about naming
> roads or art galleries after him. A more fitting tribute would be to revoke
> those provisions of Indian law that drove Husain out of the country. The
> next M.F. Husain should not have to curb his imagination or dream smaller
> dreams.
> —Mr. Tripathi, a writer in London, is the author of "Offense: The Hindu
> Case" (Seagull, 2009).
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303714704576383173779641758.html?KEYWORDS=SALIL+TRIPATHI
>
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[ALOCHONA] Re: Rahnuma Ahmed Injured
Mr. Khundakar
I cannot disagree with you that we should maintain decency and decorum in this forum but may I pose the same question as Mr. Chowdhury did. What this lady was doing in this rally? What prompted police to take action against her? Why she was injured?
You seem distressed to see the bloodied face of Rahnuma because she is your family friend. But are you not distressed to see a bus burning to just make the hartal called by Rahnuma and her associates a success? Are not distressed how a private car was vandalized for the same reason? Is not it your fundamental right to disagree with the cause of hartal, if you choose so?
Mr. Khundakar, people like Anu and Rahnuma are highly educated persons and they very well understand that BAPEX (exploration wing of Petro-Bangla) simply does not have the technology and skilled manpower to explore hydrocarbon on off-shore, not to talk about in the deep sea. (Even on on-shore BAPEX has certain limitations). Bangladesh is not in a position to buy technology. People like Anu and Rahnuma very well know that Bangladesh has not left with many alternatives especially when neighboring countries like India and Myanmar may grab the opportunity so we need to act faster than them. May I remind you very politely to see how the state oil companies in Middle Eastern countries developed. Look at the history of the largest of all, Saudi Arabian Oil Company. The Company used to be called ARAMCO-Arabian American Oil Company (though people used to call it Arabian Oil American Company). Initially Saudi Arabia was not in a position to buy technology as it can do today though Companies like Conoco Philips, Chevron, Shell etc. are still operating in Saudi Arabia today.
To the left leaning parties who are opposing the deal only because Conoco Philips is an American company, may I inform them that even China Petroleum has not much expertise to explore hydrocarbon in deep sea. Not to mention about the mess the China Petroleum created in Kuwait in recent years.
Yes, I cannot endorse the language used by Mr. Chowdhury, but I agree with the essence of his statement. I also agree with you that it is unfortunate when people like Rahnuma are injured. But it is more unfortunate to see when people like Rehnuma, knowingly or unknowingly, are injuring and damaging the cause of a nation.
With regards
Shafiq
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