Maqbool Fida Husain, renowned Indian painter, and Taslima Nasreen, famous novelist from Bangladesh, have both been targeted by Hindu and Muslim fundamentalism respectively.
Both the artists have been forced to serve exile, Husain from India and Nasreen from Bangladesh, and are seeking citizenship from their host countries where they have taken refuge. However, both are striving for the independence of their arts with invincible courage and esteem.
It’s a matter of serious concern that just a few handful Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists are creating nuisance for these two art personalities.
Another novelist Salman Rushdie too is condemned to bear the brunt of fundamentalism. The late Islamic religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini had issued a fatwa to kill him for allegedly defaming the prophet in his disputed book `The Satanic Verses’.
The anti-Hindu riots in Bangladesh triggered by Babri mosque demolition in India had inspired Nasreen Taslima to pen a novel `Lajja’ elaborating the atrocities committed against Hindu women in Bangladesh. Nasreen had to leave Bangladesh as a backlash on her literary work by Muslim fundamentalists in February 1993. Now, she wants to settle in India but a section of the Indian Muslims are opposing her stay here.
Nasreen has said the appearance of an article in a Karnataka newspaper purportedly written by her, which triggered violent protests in Shimoga and Hassan towns, is a deliberate attempt to malign her and misuse her writings to create disturbance in the society.
On the other hand MF Husain had to leave India on being targeted by the Hindu fundamentalists in 2006 for his alleged depiction of Hindu deities in bad light in his paintings. There are ancient Hindu idols in temples which are not considered obscene despite being portrayed unclothed. They rather arise a sense of devotion and respect.
The Hindu fundamentalists created mayhem over Husain’s depiction of Goddess Saraswati. For them Husain is not an artist but only a Muslim and maligning him can be nothing else but only Hindu fundamentalism.
-Agencies