Protest Tharoor's latest concern for Husain

Shashi Tharoor in his latest article ‘It's time to stop harassing M F Hussain’ in the Times of India 29 Jul 2007

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/Its_time_to_stop_harassing_M_F_Husain/articleshow/2241328.cms

Has expressed concern for Hussain and appealed to stop harassment to Hussain. Shashi Tharoor's concern and sympathy for Hussain is not understandable.

The emails and messages still haven't stopped coming in on the Hussain paintings of unclad Hindu goddesses, but I think it's time to draw a line under that debate with one last foray. First, though, I’d like to deal with those who've questioned my own record: many have written to ask whether I have spoken out in favour of freedom of expression elsewhere (I have, for decades, and continue to do so); whether I have publicly defended Salman Rushdie over The Satanic Verses (i have, widely, and in writing as well as in person); and whether I have spoken in favour of the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (I have not, because I consider them a needless provocation). (Is not his silence in Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed citing it as needless provocation amount to double standard and hypocrisy?) The last line of questioning, I must say, irritated me; those who draw a parallel between Hussain's art and a bunch of cartoons have not begun to understand the first thing about either. (Does not freedom of expression apply to cartoons also? – Editor)

But it's time to acknowledge that one category of objection cannot be lightly dismissed. I wrote a few weeks ago about those readers who, while fully respecting Hussain as an artist, and without expressing any of the communal bigotry that I found particularly distasteful about this affair, nonetheless expressed anguish at seeing representations of goddesses in the nude. They wrote of their hurt that images they worshipped should have been so depicted; many asked why Hussain has not depicted figures of other faiths, including his own, undressed. Several added that this was because Hindus are a pushover; other faiths are more robust in their self-defense, whereas Hindus like me are all too willing to accept being insulted. (When the images of faith, which are worshipped, are distorted and depicted in nude and pervert manner how can a true devotee tolerate them? Could those Hindus who do not feel anything about this call themselves Hindus? – Editor)

There's a lot to be said about all this that one can't fit into a single Sunday column. But some points must be made. First: I don't feel insulted by the paintings because (unlike the Danish cartoons) no insult was intended. As I’ve explained before, Hussain is no Johnny-come-lately; he is a major artist, a national treasure, one with a long record of being inspired by Hindu mythology as a major source of inspiration for his work. (In fact Hussain is the most controversial painter who has thrived by making nude and pervert paintings of Hindu deities. The number of police complaints and the present court cases and the past court verdict is a testimony by itself - Editor) His paintings of goddesses are consistent with 50 years of his paintings of other iconic Hindu images, clad and unclad. I saw the paintings in that context; his critics saw them out of context (and judging by some emails I received, grossly exaggerated what the paintings depicted: a Hindutva website falsely alleges that Hussain shows Durga in sexual relations with a tiger, something it would take a perfervid imagination to see in his picture!) Hussain saw his paintings as being within a millennial Indian tradition in which nudity has been widely used in art, including on temple walls. So did i. But I accept that's not enough. (The ignorance of Shashi Tharoor on Hindu religion is obvious. None of the higher worship able Hindu deities are shown nude and never inside the temple. It is only the lower gods like the Apsara; Gandharvas etc are depicted nude and that too outside the temple. See linkhttp://www.hindujagruti.org/activities/campaigns/national/mfhussain-campaign/hypocrisy.php - Editor)
 

Hussain as an artist has long used form to suggest ideas beyond form; images in his works are both less and more than realistic depictions of what they portray. His paintings are full of metaphors and allusions; the body, he has often said, is a representation of something formless, illusory (Maya). As a Hindu, I did not see his goddesses as literal depictions of the images I worship. I believe in the Upanishad view that the Divine is essentially unknowable, and that all worship consists of human beings stretching out their hands to that which they cannot touch. But since we humans, with our limited minds, need something more specific to aid our imaginations, we visualize God in forms that we find more easily recognizable. Hinduism, in accepting that need, also gives its adherents an infinite variety of choices about how to imagine God. That's why there are 333,000 names and depictions of the Divine in Hinduism; each Hindu may pick the ones he wishes to venerate, and the form in which he wishes to venerate them. (This lame explanation of Hinduism according to his understanding by Shashi Tharoor to support Hussain further exposes his ignorance. First of all there are 330000000 (33 crores) and not 333,000 deities and each deity has a specific form as prescribed in religious texts and is a principle. They are not objects of imagination but icons of worship - Editor). There's nothing more 'authentic' about a Raja Ravi Varma image of Saraswati than that of a calendar artist; each is imagining the goddess according to his own sensibility. As a Hindu, I had no difficulty in according Hussain the same right. (A mere look and comparison of the image of Goddess Saraswati by Raja Ravi Varma and Hussain will contradict Mr. Tharoor’s statement. see link http://www.hindujagruti.org/activities/campaigns/national/mfhussain-campaign/ - Editor) The question of why Hussain doesn't paint Muslim figures in the nude is a red herring. The Islamic tradition is a different one from either the Hindu or the Western; what causes offence in one is different from what causes offence in another. (Nude and pervert paintings of Hindu deities is not a Hindu tradition but an insult to Hindu religion and portrays the anti Hindu mentality of the painter - Editor) Islam, after all, prohibits any visual depiction of the Prophet, whereas visualizing our gods and goddesses is central to the practice of Hinduism. (Nobody would have objected to Husain’s proper visualization of Hindu deities, but the pervert sense of visualization does cause suspicion about some mental imbalance or hatred towards Hinduism. - Editor) 
 
But having said that, one has to accept that people of good faith may well have been offended – and if so, it's not enough to tell them they shouldn't be. Hussain himself accepts that if you hurt people unintentionally, the right thing to do is to apologies. And he has done so, more than once. Since when have Hindus become so ungracious that we refuse to accept apologies? (Hussain has never tendered a genuine apology but only made general statements like ‘If I have hurt somebody’s feelings then I am sorry”. How can one call this an apology? For a moment if one considers this as an apology then how does this happen so repeatedly. Before calling Hindus ungracious Mr. Tharoor should well remember this is Husain’s arrogance and anti Hindu psyche that even after escaping court punishment in 1998 on mere technical grounds that he has the audacity to do repeatedly such things. http://www.sanatan.org/hussaincampaign/Hussain_Case_Result.pdf - Editor)
 
On his current visit to the United States, Hussain was asked by a radio interviewer how he felt about the controversy "as a Muslim". The 92-year-old Master bridled. "I'm an Indian and a painter, that's all," he said. As an Indian and a painter he has brought immense honour to our country and our civilization. Is it right that, in the tenth decade of his illustrious life, he should live abroad, fearful of being hounded and harassed if he sets foot in his native land? (In fact all the recent protests against Hussain have been peaceful and legitimate. If Hussain feels insecure in this country he could well ask for protection, face the court and settle the issue. It is very childish to complain by sitting abroad - Editor) I appeal to the very sense of decency that some readers claim Hussain has violated. Let us put this matter beyond us, accept his apology, and withdraw the multiple cases that have been filed against him and which have destroyed his peace of mind. (The teaching of sense of decency would have been more appropriate to Hussain. Hussain himself is responsible for the court cases that are pending against him and it is he who is created self agony by not appearing in court - Editor). The persecution of Hussain does not show Hindus acting in robust self-defense; it shows us as petty and small-minded. (It a irony that acts of legitimate protest by Hindus are being labeled as persecution and robust self defense by Mr. Tharoor - Editor) What does it say about us as a society if, instead of offering our greatest living artist an honoured place, we tell him he is not welcome in his own homeland? It is time to end this harassment -not just for Hussain, but for our own sake as a civilization. (By supporting Hussain does such paintings, which civilization does Mr. Tharoor want to establish? A civilization wherein Hindu deities and Bharatmata are insulted and humiliated through nude and vulgar paintings. Mr. Shashi Tharoor, wake up cast away this pseudosecular stance and stand up as a true Hindu and an Indian. – Editor)

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