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Indian Media, Paintings, Artistic freedom

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Anti-national criminal men in the mafia of mass media in India (I mean all the main TV channels and the major English newspapers and self-proclaimed purveyors of pseudo-secular wisdom and "Sonia-servile" patriotism) have completely blacked out the basic facts about what happened in the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda two weeks ago. All of them, like newspapers in Nazi Germany or Stalin"s Russia or Mao-Tse-Tung"s China are only talking about how great artists in Baroda (enjoying special national status in the surrogate UPA Government in New Delhi!!) in the line of Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519), Michelangelo (1475-1564), Picasso (1881-1973) have joined together to raise the banner of revolt against the University authorities for having allowed the vandals of the VHP, and other Hindutva Organizations to enter the academic campus of Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda and destroy some of the most precious paintings in the history of India, if not mankind.

In my view, noble men like S K Pannikar, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda and other like minded professors of art are behaving like highly cultivated barbarians, guided and led by technically trained primitives and inspired by uninformed cannibals. I am not letting loose my language in any wild manner. Here are the stark facts.

For such champions of unfettered artistic freedom or what they call "Artistic Creativity", the so-called "ART" in Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda depicts the following. First, a large cross depicting Christ with his penis hanging out, semen dripping from it into a commode. Second, a nude woman with a baby attempting to push its way out of her vagina. The caption below the painting reads: "Durga Mata". These were two of the glorious "Works of Art" made by Chandra Mohan apparently the most distinguished student of Prof S K Pannikar in the Faculty of Fine Arts and one of the greatest painters in the history of mankind. Contrary to an erroneous impression being created, the paintings were not on display at a private gathering but, rather, at an exposition open to walk-in visitors. The gory and the vulgar details of these "Works of Art" were, of course, not reported by the mafia men in our "secular" mass media!!

The protests against Chandra Mohan"s paintings began on 9 May, when Citizens" Groups asked him to remove his work from a public exhibition. Among the earliest to protest was the pastor of the Methodist Church in Baroda, Reverend Emmanuel Kant. But, this fact has been conveniently brushed under the carpet by the "secular" media owing their allegiance only to the de-facto dictatorial Lady Prime Minister from Italy with head quarters in New Delhi!! Instead, it has been made to look like the savagely communal work of the "saffronized Taliban"!! The current orchestrated cacophony reminds me of the reportage of Jhabua / Jhajjar/ Baripada/ Allahabad et al in 1998/ "99: Only, the public, this time round, have got wise to the "secular ways" of the media!!

It is interesting that when, in 2006, there were protests by Muslims in India following the admittedly distasteful Danish newspaper cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist, the reaction was remarkably indulgent and understanding. Far from asking the UGC to step in, the Union Government had put off the visit of the Danish Prime Minister and officially protested to his Government about the publication of the cartoons in a private newspaper. The Human Resource Destruction Minister, unlike now, maintained his Stoic-Sonia-Sphinx-Silence on that occasion!

Evidently, crude depictions of Christ"s penis and Durga"s vagina merit no such condemnation by International NewsPapers of more than 100 years standing ((eg) The Times of India in Bombay or The Hindu in Madras) in the India of today. According to our pseudo-secular media, Chandra Mohan"s exquisite paintings are all timeless works of "artistic creativity"!! Whither "ethics" in journalism?

In my view Chandra Mohan has been arrested by the police for validly legal reasons which can stand Judicial Scrutiny in any Court of Law in India. Chandra Mohan has committed an offence under Section-295 of the Indian Penal Court (IPC). Under this Section, damaging or defiling a place of worship or a sacred object with the intent to insult the religion of any class is an offence. Any object, which is held sacred by any class of persons, can be the object of an insult within the meaning of Section-295. The Supreme Court of India has held that it is not necessary for the purpose of Section-295 that the object must be actually worshipped. Against this background, the silly argument of the Professors and the students in the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda that Chandra Mohan"s paintings were not either under worship or intended for worship falls to the ground.

In the aftermath of the Baroda incident, cultural activists from SAHMAT to Arundhati Roy, Anjolie Ela Menon to Nandita Das, have protested against the alleged "moral policing". Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh has asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to intervene and possibly de-recognize Maharaja Sayajirao University. CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has been quoted as saying, "What is happening is outrageous. This is not merely an attack on a single person but, in the larger framework, an attack on diversity and goes against fundamental rights of an individual." In my view all these self-styled VIPs and purveyors of pseudo-secular Sonia Congress morals would also eminently qualify for honourable consideration, along with Chandra Mohan, under the umbrella of Section-295 of the IPC!! They have no Constitutional Right to cause deliberate hurt to the time-honoured feelings, traditions and susceptibilities of more than 800 millions of peace loving Hindus in majority in India today.

On the controversial issue of Cartoons in the Danish News Paper in 2006, The Hindu on 9 April, 2006, quoted with approval from an article in People"s Democracy, the CPI (M)"s organ: "It said that after the Iran issue, the Danish newspaper cartoons on Prophet Mohammed became an international issue, with big protest rallies organized by Muslims in India from February 2006 ... There was genuine anger against the cartoons. All secular parties, including the Congress, had condemned them." Evidently, crude depictions of Christ"s penis and Durga"s vagina in Chandra Mohan"s paintings in Baroda merit no such condemnation from contemporary and cosmopolitan secular media.

In conclusion, I fully endorse the balanced views of J William Haas in his brilliant article on Artistic Expression Vs Poor Taste: As an artist, I prefer to think that I may have some degree of insight into this matter that the learned candidates might lack. And, since it is generally accepted that all artists would be bound to come to the defense of a fellow artist, let me begin my remarks by saying that I hardly see this exhibit as an artist wonder kind. The pursuit of our craft is hardly advanced by these constant barrages of indecent displays and shocking art for the sake of shock alone. I have examined this piece of work, although not in person, and from a mechanical and technical aspect, I find nothing remarkable about the painting at all. It"s merit, or lack of same, lies not in it"s perfection but in it"s content. The artist must have been keenly aware of the shock value it would have in a display for public consumption, thus "shock for shock value alone."

V Sundaram, IAS, Retd.

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V Sundaram, IAS, Retd.