M. F. Hussain is dead. Long live his sane-paintings.
Yes. there are insane-paintings too. When he selectively (he had painted his own relatives, friends and fellow religionists in fully-clad forms) depicted Hindu Gods in nude/porn forms, he had crossed all the limits of artstic decency .
He had not expressed regret. Instead, he chose to verbally attack all those who have expressed their displeasure and moved to courts against him. Facing non-bailable arrest warrant, he fled the country of his birth, a tolerant democracy, to Qatar. He accused Indian society as intolerant of artistic freedom, and selected Qatar, an Islamic theocracy, as his new home. Perhaps it was a great nation on earth which has respected artistic freedom to the core!
No doubt he was a talented artist. One can always call M F Hussain, a great artist. But was he a great human being too?
Historically, we can recognize a form of human weakness that attributes great virtues to great achievers without any proof!
People who have opposed M. F. Hussain's obscene paintings of Hindu Gods/Godesses are now being portrayed as extremists. It seems, some of our politicians and media persons are determined to carry forward the tradition of attacking Hindus.
But reality is different People, who peacefully opposed Hussain's pornographic art were not extremists. They were just ordinary people who got upset. They were the members of the civil society. There were doctors, lawyers, journalists, teachers, students, Hindus, Muslims and Christians.
Artistic freedom does not mean that you can do mean things. Freedom is always a subject of decency and morality. You cannot violate artistic decency to show that you have artistic freedom. Even corrupt politicians take people to courts when they feel they are being "defamed".
Communities also get upset when they feel their sacred symbols are being desecrated.
Anyway, artists have excluded Prophet Muhammad from their canvas, isn't it? They have done it (barring one or two incidents) in good faith. Mutual respect is the key. Then why one should insult Hindus?
We all do not want child-porn. No artist can paint child-pornography. Laws will not permit that. Similarly, M. F. Hussain's God-pornography should be opposed too. And it was opposed by the civil society for that reason only.
There are limitations to artistic expressions. Child porn is universally banned. Likewise, God- porn depictions must also be banned. Civil society should not be assaulted in the name of artistic expressions.
It must be saved from art-attacks.
