Thursday, September 6, 2007

Hussain will not be allowed to land in Kerala at any cost : VHP

Hussain will not be allowed to land in Kerala at any cost : VHP 9/6/2007 2:46:38 AM HK
KOZHIKODE: The state unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad today said it will not allow the state government to confer the prestigious Ravi Varma Award on renowned painter M F Hussain as it will be national shame to honour a person who has depicted Hindu Gods in the nude.
"VHP and other Hindu organisations like the Bajrang Dal will prevent Hussain from landing anywhere in the state to receive the award in Thiruvananthapuram on September 17," VHP state joint secretary, P Vasudevan and district president C H Kunhukrishna Kurup told a press conference here.
As a first step, the VHP would observe September 4 to 10 as 'protest week' across the state holding rallies and meetings. On September 13, Parishad volunteers will burn the painter's effigy and on September 17 extend support to the Bajrang Dal which had called for a statewide protest, they said.
Accusing Hussain of committing blasphemy by insulting the religion through his obscene paintings of Hindu Gods, they said, "nowhere in India, will he dare to arrive to receive an award." The LDF Government should therefore cancel the programme respecting the sentiments of large sections of people in the state and avoid communal disturbance, they added.
K.Venugopal 9/6/2007 9:26:25 AM
I feel in the name of freedom we should allow expressions of any sort, short of actual physical violence. There is a cartoon available on the internet which depicts Prophet Mohammad dragging a child with a doll towards the marital bed. This is a true depiction of an actual event in history, unlike M.F.Hussain's depiction of a nude Sita on Hanuman's tail, which never occurred. We should allow the award-giving function for M.F. Hussain to go on and we should organise our own award-giving function outside the venue for the unknown cartoonist of Prophet Mohammad's adventure. Our stand should be, either both functions should be cancelled or both allowed to go on in the name of freedom of expression.

No comments: