Husain, Hinduism, Hindustan: Testing Tolerance

Farzana goes to bat for the Islamists...So what if the Islamists have a fatwa on Rushdie(a fatwa most muslims support)...so what if muslims are going apeshit over the cartoons..Indians are bad too..they dragged hussains bare feet to the police chowkie too..that`s just as bad..

Unfortunately, your article is either too devious in stating its purpose or designed to create a confused medley of mental pictures for an unfocussed readership.

I expected a more substantive article from the Editor of The Chowk.

``M. F. Husain will never get arrested. His masters will bail him out because they have already bought him.``

M.F. Hussain is a great artist. Many Hindu conservatives don`t particularly like him because of the way he paints mythical Hindu figures. But he has masters? Who are `they` who ``have already bought him?`

Re: # 3 kaal
[...But he has masters? Who are `they` who ``have already bought him?`...]

Are you kidding me?..... Hinuds are his masters - MF hussain is their secret weapon - he is the thin wedge of the big conspiracy by hinuds to get India hinduised......

Here is how it works - Husain paints nude hinud gods.... hinuds applaud him, instead of burning down buildings[except for VHP, ofcourse].... that proves hinuds are tolerant - that shows hinuds in a good light.... non-hinuds[muslims] get impressed and gravitate towards towards hinduism..... next thing you know India is hinduised.....

Get it?

My 2 cents on these two issues from an atheist`s point of view:

Commercial exploitation of revered figures of another faith to sell a product is wrong. 99% of the time this is done to highlight and exaggerate the `quaintness` of the other belief systems (those strange Hindus/Muslims/Sikhs with their dots/beards/turbans); which is just a thinly disguised appeal to hidden racism in the popular culture. This should be opposed not on the religious grounds, but on the grounds of identity politics and racism.

Having said that, artists should be free to exploit any figure/character/deity for their artistic expression, as long as the art is not being used to sell some other product. So Hussain has every right to paint pictures of Durga having sex with Shiva, let alone painting ``mother earth`` in nude. Only jokers of BJP and RSS can think of objecting to something like this. I have a feeling that this would have been a non-issue had BJP been in the power instead of Congress.

On another note, if BJP and RSS are so offended by the notions of a nude mother earth, may be they should consider covering the whole earth with some kid of sari.

Farzana Versey,
You are a very talented person, perhaps that was the reason Chowk`s Pakistani owners chose you to run the shop(unless there was some other reason......).

However, I am writing this rebuttal religously, as I always do after you write something like this.

Why is it that you are defending Maqbool Fida Hussain`s freedom? Is it because he is of Afghan descent like yourself(Ferzana is a Afghan name) or is it because he is from same city as your current base camp or is it because he is a famous Muslim from Mumbai.
Could it be that modern day Indian Muslims, who have been sidelined by Hindus from 50ies-80ies, now look upon Shabana Aazmee and MFH as their leaders.
What about Shahbuddinn? Afterall he is ex-IAS and a very effective leader holding BJP under the matt.

Why?

In all seriousness, your article looses it`s value and my rebuttal looks more appealing, simply because Muslims are burning their own cities and getting very frustrated by the Cartoon issues; whereas here you are defending MFH`s portrayal of Hindu Goddesses in a compromising position, as if Durga and Kaali are synonmous with liqour.
What about Toilet seats? Would you write something if some Indian portrays Christ or Kaaba on a Toilet seat?

I am neither a Hindu nor Muslim, but I support both Muslims and Hindus when it comes to their religious figures being portrayed negatively. I had the same stance when some mediocre writer in U.K wanted to become popular, and wrote a play called ``Beheztee``.

Last but not least, why are you always so angry? Do us a favor and write at least one positive article from your able hands.

For Chrisss sake(errrrr.....Prophet`s sake), please write some pro-Muslim article for a change.

...the entire article, if i am allowed to call it an article, reeks of supressed anger against the world without really identifying the cause of the anger...is it against hussain? is it against hindus who protest hussain`s paintings or is it against the painthings themselves which do not meet the critical approval of the writer who finds it more in the film-poster genre?... i am unable to connect the 5 lac shoes and unshod feet...5 lac would be about ten thousand dollars, and a pair of shoes costing that high must be a museum piece... could you enlighten your readers about the said pair of shoes, which is the only interesting point of the lengthy protest...

Hmmm, not sure what this is about. I guess Farzana is proving she can dish it out to all traditions.

Anyway, MF Husain is a genius and wonderful painter. For hindus, an artist/dancer/singer who creates beauty has inherently an aspect of the divinity. For this simple reason, while the mindless Bajrang Dal types (and some hindu xenophobes) will always curse this guy, he will do fine with the broader comminity.

BTW, they have a right to protest against him. Its when people start smashing things and setting them on fire that the situation changes.

I think so-so writers, artists, cartoonists try to get attention by rubbing religous nuts the wrong way. And boy do they succeed!!

Re: # 5

Ahah hah,
JG the saint speaks from his cave.

Would you say then that cartoonists in Europe have right to make Prophet`s cartoons?

Re: # 9
I agree.

I think Farzana is angry that Hindus in large scale (other than the Shive Sena/Bajrang Dal nut cases) are not burning assembly buildings, malls and banks in order to take revenge on a blasphemous painting by MFH, like what their `peaceful` counterparts are doing in the ``rest of the world``.. thereby showing Hinduism as some kind of a ``tolerant`` religion and thinks it is all a conspiracy by MFH and his masters.. :-))

Lets test Farzana Versey`s tolerance now >

Dear Farzana:

Hussain is the wrong symbol for either secualrism or freedom of expression. He not only apologised for his Mother India painting as soon as he faced criticism from VHP goons, he withdrew his film Meenakshi from theatres at the first protest by the Mullahs that a prefix was used for the hero which could only be used for the Prophet.

I am more concerned about the Islamisation of Hinduism than of ``Hinduisation`` of Hussain. During the good old days, no Hindu would have given a whit about how their gods or goddesses were portrayed; Hussain`s nude painting of Saraswati existed for twenty years before the VHP goons went after him. I wish that Hindus would get over this me-too-fundamentalism which is at variance with the fundamentals of their own religion. And yes, it is the height of hypocrisy in decrying Hussain`s paintings while promoting Khajuraho to the whole world.

As for protests over insulting Bharat Mata, why do the Hindus claim monopoly over the ownership of their motherland? Mother Earth sustains everyone equally, or should!

``He makes a mockery of poverty by going around unshod when he has shoes that cost Rs. 5 lakh.``
The only time I saw Hussain in a person was on a train from Delhi to Bombay and, as I recall, he was bare-foot.

masan
[.... thereby showing Hinduism as some kind of a ``tolerant`` religion and thinks it is all a conspiracy by MFH and his masters...]

Exactly.... MFH ``helps`` hinuds carry on the ``charade`` that they are tolerant - which they are NOT, in FV`s opinion..... how can they be? Look - they are protesting god-on-toilet and durga-with-whisky!!!..... they are as violent as the muslims[doesn`t Durga hold weapons in her ten hands?]- but MFH is ``helping`` them mask that fact..... And that makes her mad.....

What a tortured mind!!!!....

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