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New Delhi : The government should give an assurance of security to M.F. Husain and bring him home, the CPI-M said on February 25 following reports that the artist had been given Qatari nationality while the BJP maintained that his art had hurt people's feelings.
The Congress maintained a middle of the road stance and said it was his personal decision. The reactions came following a report that 95-year-old Husain, under attack from the Hindu right for his paintings on Hindu goddesses and hopping between Dubai and London because he is unable to come home, had been given Qatari nationality.
"I, the Indian origin painter M.F. Husain at 95 have been honoured by Qatar nationality," Husain wrote above a line sketch of a horse, the leitmotif of much of his work, released in The Hindu. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury said the government should urge the painter to come back and provide assurances about his security.
"(What is happening to Husain) It is very unfortunate and regrettable. The government should give him an assurance about his security." According to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Najma Heptullah, Husain "was a very good artist" but art should not hurt sentiments of the people.
"If art hurts feelings of people, it is not right," she said, adding that his portrayal of Hindu deities had hurt religious sentiments of the people and it was not a question of Hindus or Muslims. She said Husain "did not face danger to his life" in the country and people were "only agitating" over some of his paintings.
Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi refused to comment on Husain getting Qatari nationality and said it was "his individual decision". Asked about the government not assuring him of adequate security to facilitate his return, Chaturvedi said that the government provided security to all its citizens. "If he (Husain) needed more security, there is a process for that. He can demand more security," the Congress leader said.
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