SYED ALI MUJTABATHE current episode of Taslima Nasreen once again has brought out the hypocritical attitude of many Indians. I am amused about the hullabaloos made by the BJP the Sangh Privar and some others for this Bangladeshi writer.
However, when it comes to dealing with the economic migrant from our neighbouring court, the same set of people wear the Hindu nationalist cloak and demand ‘operation push back’ for those poor and hungry people who want to feed their belly on the Indian soil. To them such people would turn India a Muslim Rashtra.
The other hypocrisy that comes out very clearly from this episode is while the Sangh Privar and others welcome Taslima Nasrin, a foreigner with open arms to live any where in India, they have booted out MF Hussein, the living Picasso of India from his own country.
It seems the ninety-year- old living legend is heading to become another Bahadur Shah Zafar who may bemoan for not getting two meters of land for his burial in his own motherland.
I tried to search a person in the field of painting that can match the greatness of luminaries like Dadu, Nanank, Kabir, Pipa, Aryabhtta and many others who have left an impression on the Indian civilisation but could not stumbled upon even a single name. I think I need to be educated whether any painter existed in Indian history that can be equated with such personalities.
My idea is not to equate M F Hussein with many of the Indian greats but just to say the undoubtedly he is one of the celebrities in the field of painting that India has produced in the modern times.
It’s irony that even after being acknowledged so Hussein has to live in exile for his alleged attempt to draw the Hindu goddess that many have hurt some Hindus brethrens sentiments.
The big question is was Hussein the first person in India to indulge in such an activity?
Well we just need to flip through the pages of Indian history books to draw our own conclusion. Such books are littered with much worst kind of painting than what Hussein has drawn.
Then why this aged Indian has being singled out by its own citizen? Perhaps because Hussein bears a Muslim sounding name or he is an iconoclast!
Well such hypocritical attitude and many others do not portray that incredible India is shining and marching on. #
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be reached syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
First published in TwoCircles.net on 29 November, 2007
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