M.F. Husain-Picasso of India

Maqbool Fida Husain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011), according to the Forbes magazine he is regarded as “Picasso of India”. M.F Husain was on a self imposed exile from 2006. Why did this great Indian artist leave his motherland? Well ironically the answer lies in his painting of mother India.

The painting depicts Bharathmata (mother India) as a nude woman posed across a map of India with the names of various states across her body. Many activist and followers of the Hindu religion were outraged by this depiction of Bharathmata for many consider her a goddess. But most goddess sculptures in temples have been portrayed nude. Then why shouldn’t Mr. Husain have the freedom to do so in his paintings?  It is because of his religion that made him a target of various groups, his house was attacked, art works vandalized by Hindu groups like Bajrang Dal. The leader of Shiv sena endorsed the attacks. Protest by the Hindu groups leading to the premature closer of an exhibition in London. We must ask ourselves if he had been a Hindu would he have faced the same prosecutions. No, then why did we people stand idle while he was prosecuted, where was the equality promised by our constitution to all citizens. This is indeed a shameful chapter in a secular country.

A man who is associated with Indian modernism in the 1940’s, a man awarded the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and various awards forced to impose a self exile because of politics and religious difference in thought.

 Someone who lived in a time where a free India was just a dream, 

 Someone who dreamed to fade away in the dream,

 and someone who saw The dream become a reality,

 but when his rays dimmed it was just a dream.

                                                     

This is what we have repaid the great artist with “a dream denied….”

Ramdev's false crusade

Baba Ramdev's eviction from the Ramlila grounds on Saturday is one of the recent controversies caused by the UPA government. What had caused the government to stage a forced eviction; the yogic Baba had taken permission to stage a yoga camp at the Ramlila grounds in New Delhi and later changed the yoga camp into a fast against corruption and black money. The second question that arises is that while Anna Hazare and other civil society members are in the process of drafting the Lokpal bill, why was this fast necessary? , Views are divided on the issue, congress and UPA argue that this event was orchestrated by the RSS and BJP to unsettle the government, where as many consider this a publicity stunt by the Baba to enter politics. The government justifies the eviction saying that the permit issued by the police was for a yoga camp not a protest, but was the force used to disperse the gathering excessive? Whilst Baba Ramdev claims he was orchestrating a sathyagraha against corruption, why did he jump into the crowd?  

A true follower of sathyagraha would have surrendered to police and would have avoided unnecessary hardships to his fellow protestors. People who follow the Baba must ask themselves are they doing the right thing by supporting someone who makes deals with the government and then goes back on his word to the government and takes advantage of people who support him by putting them in harm’s way to evade eviction. Today five days after the crackdown at Ramlila ground, Baba Ramdev makes a public statement stating that his next protest will be armed. The Home minister P.Chidambram says that this statement shows the hands of BJP and RSS at work behind Baba’s crusade against corruption, and if such a protest arises or staged it will be handled according to police protocol.

The major question which has been raised by political parties and public alike was the crackdown done in an undemocratic way. The right to peaceful protest belongs to everyone regardless of their age, sex; caste etc. Democracy gives people the right to protest against a government whose actions isn’t in the best interest of the people in a peaceful manner, and when any form of government is destructive to the constitutional rights of the people. It is the right of the people to abolish or alter it. Having said this was the UPA government denying us our constitutional right in the Ramlila, or as the Finance minster Mr. Pranab Mukherjee said “was an unfortunate turn of events”. Or have the people been hoodwinked by Baba Ramdev’s false crusade against corruption. For he clearly did not conduct a sathyagraha like he claims, nor does he intend to fight corruption peacefully.