Maneka defends Hussain, says BJP offending cultural world

Protest Credit Card with Hussain’s Art

New Delhi: In a stinging attack on the saffron opposition to painter M F Hussain’s works and to an arts exhibition in a Gujarat university, BJP MP Maneka Gandhi today said the party and VHP activists have gone "too far" in their protests. She also opposed the arrest of two arts students of M S University in Vadodra in BJP-ruled Gujarat.

"VHP and BJP activists attacked and damaged their paintings. This is unacceptable behaviour and I am sure, as a reasonable and open-minded person, you will realise that we offend the entire cultural world and thinking when we do this," she said in a letter to senior party leader L K Advani. The Pilibhit MP, who praised Hussain for his charity, alleged that his paintings had been misread deliberately and suggested that they were worthy of being displayed in a museum. "Even if they have been interpreted correctly, and objected to, that is the purpose of good art: to arouse debate, to create emotion and passion, to be a means of communicating the artist’s own thoughts. "Otherwise, all art would be a mediocre representation of the real world and would have no value except as a photograph imitative record of the world," Gandhi wrote.

She regretted that Hussain was living in a self-imposed exile in Dubai and London apparently for fears he could be attacked because of his paintings. "He should be here in India and we should have a museum of his works on public display, instead of considering which ones to ban and destroy," Gandhi said as she requested Advani to advise the party in Gujarat and Maharashtra to call off their campaign against Hussain. The BJP, she suggested, should concentrate its energies on its core beliefs instead of "hitting out at artists without any reason".

In an attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, she alleged that the state had the highest incidence of cow slaughter. "I have pointed this out to the CM and Home Minister many times. No attempt is being made to make sure that the police, who are hand in glove with cattle smugglers, stop this open killing of something that the BJP stands for," she said. Last year, the BJP declined ticket to Gandhi’s son Varun Gandhi for the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat and instead fielded a Madhya Pradesh leader from the RSS stronghold.

(If Hussain painted Shrimati Maneka Gandhi’s family naked, will she accept it? This also raises question about BJP’s Hindutva ! – Editor)

Source: PTI

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