New Delhi: A large cross depicting Christ with his penis hanging out, semen dripping from it into a commode.A nude woman with a baby attempting to push its way out of her vagina. The caption below the painting reads: “Durga Mata”.
These were two of the “works of art” made by Chandra Mohan, a student of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, who was arrested this past week on charges of hurting religious sentiments and posing a threat to public order.
While Mohan’s arrest may have been an extreme reaction and his release on bail would be welcomed even by his critics, the sequence of events leading to his becoming the most controversial artist in Gujarat merits attention. Equally noteworthy is how civil rights commandos and sections of the media have described Mohan’s “plight” in jail – and labelled it an act of censorship – but have themselves censored references to the content of his art.
The protests against Chandra Mohan’s paintings began on May 9, when citizens groups asked him to remove his work from a public exhibition. Contrary to an erroneous impression being created, the paintings were not on display at a private gathering but, rather, at an exposition open to walk-in visitors.
Among the earliest to protest was the pastor of the Methodist Church in Baroda , Reverend Emmanuel Kant. A group of irate Hindus, led by Niraj Jain, a BJP activist, also marched into the exhibition venue. Jain, who had complained to the police about the apparently blasphemous nature of the “art”, demanded the paintings be removed.
Chandra Mohan and the Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, SK Pannikar, refused. Pannikar turned down a request from the university’s vice-chancellor as well and was quoted as telling mediapersons that the Faculty of Fine Arts was like his “personal bedroom” and he was free to do and display what he wanted.
After persuasion from the police, the paintings and other works of “art” were taken down and locked up in a room. Despite the anger of Jain and his compatriots, there was no major violence, no damage to university property and Chandra Mohan’s creations were left untouched. They are still safe in that room.
The matter would have ended there had not, on May 11, Pannikar triggered another fire. Acting unilaterally and going against the orders of his superiors, he organised an impromptu exhibition of nude paintings under the rubric of “medieval art” and “Indian culture”. He refused written orders from the registrar to remove the paintings and insisted on displaying them through the night. This led to Pannikar’s suspension.
What are Chandra Mohan and Pannikar guilty of? Senior lawyers emphasise that Indian court judgements are careful in the distinction they draw between obscenity and blasphemy. The second is considered a far more serious crime, especially when it injures religious sensibilities and threatens public order.
In the aftermath of the Baroda incident, cultural activists from SAHMAT to Arundhati Roy, Anjolie Ela Menon to Nandita Das, have protested against the alleged “moral policing”. Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh has asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to intervene and possibly de-recognise Maharaja Sayajirao University. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has been quoted as saying, “What is happening is outrageous. This is not merely an attack on a single person but, in the larger framework, an attack on diversity and goes against fundamental rights of an individual.”
It is interesting that when, in 2006, there were protests by Muslims in India following the admittedly distasteful Danish newspaper cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist, the reaction was remarkably indulgent and understanding.
Far from asking the UGC to step in, the Union Government had put off the visit of the Danish Prime Minister and officially protested to his Government about the publication of the cartoons in a private newspaper. As for the Left, on March 2, 2006 , the CPI participated with Muslim organisations in a massive rally in Mumbai, protesting against President George W Bush’s arrival in India and the Danish cartoons.
A month later, on April 9, 2006 , the Hindu approvingly quoted from a recent article in People’s Democracy, the CPI(M)’s organ. “It said,” reported the Hindu, “that after the Iran issue, the Danish newspaper cartoons on Prophet Mohammed became an international issue, with big protest rallies organised by Muslims in India from February 2006 … There was genuine anger against the cartoons. All secular parties, including the Congress, had condemned them.”
Evidently, crude depictions of Christ’s penis and Durga’s vagina merit no such condemnation.
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