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5th Annual Konkan Fruit Fest
Promenade, D B Bandodkar Road, Panaji, Goa
16-18, May 2008
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-May/073789.html
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Marshall Mendonza wrote:
>>The only point that I would like to add to Sandeep is that if anyone finds
>>the paintings offensive, they are free to take the matter to the civil courts
>>and have the display of such paintings proscribed and not by hounding him by
>>filing criminal cases galore all over the country and by issuing death
>>threats or by inciting hate. This is not civilised behaviour.
Marshall,
Radical Hindu groups and other Hindutva elements have unnecessarily
blown this issue out of proportion.
Even if we were to take their own extreme positions and accept that
Hussain did indeed go overboard in his depiction of Hindu deities in
the nude, this is what this iconic artist did after that:
1. Hussain tendered his apology to all the Hindus whose sentiments he
had hurt. He also said to them that this was purely an unintentional
act on his part since all his paintings were drawn with intense love
and devotion for the Hindu religion and not a single drop from them
was drawn out of hate.
2. He also offered his critics to subject his entire lifeworks to the
rigorous "Agni Pariksha" or the Hindu sacrifice test. He suggested
that a panel of judges comprising of an art critic, a lawyer and a
member of a Hindu Nationalist organization must review the entire
spectrum of his works. That he would throw all the paintings that
this committee would find objectionable into the flames of the "Agni".
In other words, a self-imposed destruction if not proscription of all
his works that were objectionable.
This issue could have been given a decent burial then and there. But
the Hindu Militants were just not willing to listen. This was after
all not a case of sentiments being hurt at all, it was simply a case
of Hindu mobilization, a larger game being played by these groups.
Sachin who is standing up for these groups needs to spell out what
exactly he expects from Hussain other than what Hussain has offered
already to make up for the sentiments being hurt. Does he want the 92
year old Artist's hands to be chopped off and his eyes guaged out as
some leaders suggested?Or does he want Hussain's head along with a
share of the 51 Crore bounty? :-)
Cheers
Sandeep
