Art for God’s sake

By Chandan Mitra

The disinformation machinery of the Indian Left is probably more ruthlessly efficient than anything wartime Nazi propagandist Goebbles could have dreamed of. The effortless ease with which they disseminate half-truths and thereafter construct gigantic myths around these is something to be marvelled at. Despite their disdain for all things Indian, such as our age-old epics, they have picked up significant lessons from the Ashwathama story and are busy putting it into practice virtually every day. That they diabolically employ sympathetic TV channels for multiplier effect besides infiltrating the English-language print medium through the JNU route adds to the efficacy of their political message.

The latest armoury in the Left’s arsenal has been derived from Gujarat, a State that worries them immensely because of the sheer popularity of its Chief Minister and the BJP’s acknowledged sway over public discourse there. In recent weeks, they first attempted to destabilise the State’s administrative machinery and derail the nation’s anti-terrorist game plan through wildly exaggerated reports aimed at vilifying the police, investigative agencies and the Modi Government. After their cause celebre, "innocent victim" Sohrabuddin (allegedly felled by a communalised, trigger-happy, Dirty Harry breed of policemen) turned out to be a notorious criminal besides being a terrorist gunrunner and underworld conduit, the Left-liberals switched affection to his murdered wife. I am not defending whatever was allegedly done to Kauser Bi, but it worries me that sections of the media behave virtually as spokespersons for terrorists who, understandably, are out to demoralise the security forces. Has so much concern ever been showered on victims of terror? For example, about families ruined by the Sarojini Nagar or Mumbai train blasts, including innocent children orphaned by the terrorists’ insane bloodlust? Wasn’t former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao right when he commented in despair, ‘It seems in this country only terrorists have human rights’?

Just when the Sohrabuddin-Kauser story began to run out of steam, the Left found a godsend in the Vadodara art exhibition and the arrest of one Chandra Mohan for painting vulgar pictures of Durga, Saraswati and Jesus Christ. That Gujarat Christians were a vocal component in the petition against the exhibition was neatly overlooked by the Delhi media, which predictably, focused on the BJP’s alleged role in getting the exhibition shut down and dispatching the wannabe MF Hussain behind bars. Three points are worth noting here. First, the agitated townsfolk that stormed the MS University campus was led by MLA Nitin Jain, strictly speaking, not a Hindu. Then, outraged Christians complained to the State Human Rights Commission, apart from filing a plaint in Court demanding action against the blasphemous portrayal of Christ. Third, unlike what the Left propaganda machine got everybody to initially swallow, it was not a "private" display of art works. Admittedly, this exhibition of wanton vulgarity was not mounted in some art gallery, but it was widely publicised nevertheless, attracting hundreds of people including many art dealers. Just because an exhibition is held within a university campus does not make it a "private" show.

Most importantly, ordinary people who visited the exhibition complained to politicians, and some went further to lodge a PIL. In response, the local court ordered the exhibition’s closure and punitive action against those who allowed it to be staged. Accordingly, the Vice-Chancellor suspended the Dean, a Keralite widely known to have pro-saffron political sympathies but unable to withstand the pressure brought upon him by the Left wing students. In other words, whatever happened in Vadodara was in accordance with the court’s directions – a point completely overlooked by the mainstream, non-Gujarati media because they received only the Left-jholawala version of the "infringement" of the right to free expression.

In my view the guardians of public morality did a disservice by getting the student arrested for that drew the Left-liberal media to Vadodara in droves and enabled the CPI(M)’s front organisation, Sahmat, to launch a frenzied campaign among artists and intellectuals. Clearly the party hoped to make up for the damage done to its image by the brutality of its cadre and captive policemen in Nandigram last month. Half-truths were peddled as if they were gospel, which predictably had the effect desired by the Communists of getting the apolitical urban middle class disturbed by visions of a Hindu right on the rampage. The controversy also assisted the Left to neatly resurrect the cause of absconder MF Hussain by dovetailing the Vadodara paintings with the celebrity artist’s offences. This exerted sufficient pressure on the higher judiciary to stay a lower court order to attach Hussain’s properties for non-appearance to face charges. The Left projection of this so-called persecution of artistic creativity neatly sidestepped the law, which clearly prescribes punitive action against persons proven to have promoted enmity between communities. As long as such a law exists in the statutes, nobody can be faulted for approaching the courts against Hussain’s objectionable paintings, nor can the judiciary be pilloried for ordering action against the artist for his persistent and deliberate refusal to appear before the court.

But there is a larger issue that goes beyond the arrest of an art student, vandalisation of movie halls screening Deepa Mehta’s films (which are gigantic flops anyway) or the supposed persecution of Hussain. It is disturbing that the vocal Left-liberal media manipulators have succeeded in bestowing such people iconic status, which in turn results in the proliferation of perverted art. Hindu gods and goddesses, age-old social customs and other things revered by most Indians have become targets of vilification and desecration. The aim is to make a mockery of the Hindu social structure, Hindu systems of worship and systematically erode the foundations of the Hindu faith. To put a veneer of secularism on this objective, Jesus Christ is periodically dragged in as a smokescreen to hide the true purpose. Left-wing plotters assume that the usually law-abiding Christian community will not raise Cain, be it the staging of the controversial ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ or scandalous portrayals in works of art by Vadodara students. Interestingly, the Left-liberals never put forward the "right to creativity" argument over depiction of Islamic motifs. Would somebody at Vadodara dare paint a likeness of the Prophet? Even during the latest controversy deafening silence was maintained on the issue of the Danish cartoons that, rightly, outraged Muslim opinion throughout the world.

Is there a way in which this conspiracy to blaspheme the Hindu faith can be countered? I believe there is a pressing need to enact a stern law against blasphemy in India that penalises all efforts to disparage religion and religious icons, irrespective of faith. Nobody, not even the tallest intellectual or celebrated artist, has the right to purposely hurt anybody’s religious sentiment by exhibiting nude or copulating gods. None stops them from painting voluptuous women or male hunks in various disagreeable forms and enough models are available to serve their purpose. But, for God’s sake, don’t use our gods to satiate your intellectual perversions.

Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=mitra%2Fmitra250.txt&writer=mitra