At the 32nd state art exhibition held at the Kala Academy in Panji a painting denigrating Lord Shiva, the seat of worship of Hindus was exhibited. This exhibition was inaugurated on 1st February 2006 by the Chief Minister of the state, Mr.Pratapsingh Rane. Of the 100 exhibits the 8th one is a painting denigrating Lord Shiva , the artist being Mr.Govind Raj Bhandare. The painting depicts Lord Shiva with one large eye and two breast-like figures in the abdominal region.The serpents around His neck are depicted as ropes. Priced at 35,000 rupees this painting has been captioned as`Shiva-Shakti’. This has hurt the religious sentiments of all Hindus. Members of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti approached the concerned authorities with a memorandum expressing their sentiments on 3rd February 2006. However since the office of the Kala Academy was closed for the weekend they could not meet them. The memorandum was then submitted to the reception counter of the Kala Academy office.When members of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti had a telephonic conversation with the concerned officials they replied that this was `modern art’ and they did not find anything wrong in exhibiting such a painting.When the HJS member explained to him that Hindus deities were meant for worship and not for modern art paintings drawn by artists to earn money the official said that since that was the last day of the exhibition they could not take off that painting. In fact he said that these paintings were selected by the Chief Minister of the state, Mr. Pratapsingh Rane himself.
