My Position on MF Husain

This should not require any clarification but one has little choice but to live in the world as it is, not in an imaginary world where people are reasonable. One anonymous person posted a pretty needless question on my post “The Land of Retards and Hypocrites.” He, or she, wrote, “Are you unhappy about Husain’s depictions? Are you okay (or sort of okay) with cases slapped on him?”

I had previously clarified my position in that comment thread for the person and written, “The point is freedom of expression is non-negotiable. Which part of it is difficult to understand? Which part of it puts conditions on who is allowed the freedom and who is disallowed?”

Perhaps the person thought that he or she had cornered me, and I was exposed as a “fascist Hindu.” Very clever, it must have made her or him feel as he or she posted those questions.

So here are my answers.

Am I unhappy about Husain’s depiction? Nope, I am neither unhappy nor happy. I just couldn’t care less. I care as much about Husain’s paintings as I do about his sexual fantasies. It’s his business and I don’t give a flying fuck either way. I have not seen his paintings.

I am not much of a paintings person, anyway. Music I care about and have definitive likes and dislikes but when it comes to paintings, my taste is limited to some Western classical masters, and some modern painters. Sister Wendy was my guide and I am happy that she taught me to see what those paintings convey.

In general, I think that people have the right to do whatever they feel like doing, as long as what they do does not interfere or infringe on my similar right to do what I want. No negative externalities to me, no problem for me. You write, read, sing, listen, watch, show, paint, etc — whatever your heart desires and I do the same. You don’t tell me what to do and I will not tell you what you should do. This world is has a diversity of people with diverse interests, preferences, abilities, talents and inclinations. Its diversity makes the world magical for all of us. Suppressing individual behavior that does not harm non-involved people is antithetical to what my conception of the good life is.

That brings me to the second question: Am I okay (or sort of okay) with cases slapped on him? Yes, it’s a free country. People should be free to sue anyone for anything that they desire. It’s the court’s job to deal with cases expeditiously, and pass judgement. And if the case is frivolous, then the court should impose punitive fines on people who attempt to waste the time of the court.

I think that people bitching about hurt feelings and filing court cases should be dealt with severely. To me they are frivolous cases and should be dismissed.

If you don’t like someone’s writing, don’t read him. If you don’t find someone’s cartoons funny, you don’t have to laugh.

If someone gets his feelings hurt and goes on a rampage, the law against going on rampages should apply.

But India, as I have argued before, is governed by hypocrites. First, they claim that India is a country where freedom of speech exists. Then the first amendment to the constitution sneaks in the clause which says, “yeah, but not in all cases.” And then the government hypocritically determines which cases expression is allowed or not. So basically it boils down to this:

If the expression offends one particular section of the citizens, then it is not allowed. If the expression offends others, that is fine.

MF Husain paints nude Hindu goddesses copulating. That is just fine with the government since MF Husain has not offended one particular community. But that is not fine with the retards and goons of some idiotic regional parties, who then go on a rampage. The pseudo-secular leftists cry themselves hoarse about the great freedom of expression and how wonderful a painter MF Husian is.

The goons should be tried and punished for their crimes.

But here’s the other side of the story. Some writer writes something — a book, a newspaper article, a cartoon — and one particular community takes offense. The government goes into high gear banning, imprisoning, criminalizing people. It even supports the murder of foreign citizens. The pseudo-secular leftists go silent and crawl back into the woodwork. Not a peep is heard from them.

The double standards and hypocrisy grates on my nerves.

Here’s what I would like to see. I would like to see the leftist defend a painter who paints the founder of a certain middle-east — say, Moses or Abraham or Jesus or whatever — religion having sex with a minor while 20 of his other 23 wives are watching. I would like to see the government give a Bharat Ratna to the painter. I would like to see the government give the painter a dual citizenship, assuming that the painter is from Italy. Italians do get Indian citizenship. But let me see that they give an Italian painter who paints it like it can be imagined and let’s see how peaceful the country is.

So Mr or Ms Someone, I hope I have answered your question. Now back to the woodwork for you.

Author: Atanu Dey

Economist.

69 thoughts on “My Position on MF Husain”

  2. Jinesh, let me give you a hint, why don’t you go ahead and paint Hussain mother in the nude giving a blowjob to Muhammad and throw in a fyllu nude Ayesha for good measure. Stop being a cry baby.
    Hussain is a Muslim, so why are you expecting him to potray his prophet and his prophet’s wife in a compromising position. If his painting offends you then go ahead and do what you want him to do.

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  5. So Rajkamal according to you if Indians living Australia get beaten up racists then its alright since they are not Australian citizens. You must be very perveted to say something like that.
    Perhaps you must read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights before you say something obtuse like that.

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  6. no; just that indian govt was obliged to protect hussain just like UK protected its citizen rushdie and denmark protected its cartoonist. india is not obliged to protect taslima; bangladesh is. if some other country chooses to do so, its their goodwill or political concern or whatever.

    @sundry why bring australia into the picture here? is it related to freedom of speech? or, like someone would say – do you have hidden biases against a section of people and fantasise about beating them up like the aussie thugs?

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  8. exactly. but why should the indian govt use indian tax money to protect artistic freedom of all and sundry, especially if the said freedom was not exercised on indian soil? it is bound to protect artistic freedom of a citizen or a foreigner who has been legitimately practicing their craft on indian soil. any other amnesty is not an obligation and can be given based on political payoffs.

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  10. @sundry why bring australia into the picture here? is it related to freedom of speech? or, like someone would say – do you have hidden biases against a section of people and fantasise about beating them up like the aussie thugs?

    Rajkamal out of issues huh! Go ahead and attack me ask much as you. But your hippocracy is self evident and plain for all to see. Shame on gutless, spineless, Dhimmis like you who will go any extent to defend their Islamo facist masters.

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  11. @kautilya most times its the technicalities that make the difference, even though its easier and possibly sexier to ignore them.

    @sundry what exactly is a hippocrat? a zoo administrator? or maybe you are better read than i thought, and are referring to a representative of a regime of horses (yes, i googled that one!)? either way off topic again!

    and what’s a dhimmi? interesting slang, but no idea what it means. would love to use it in a conversation, so pray enlighten me.

    seriously, look inwards. maybe you have latent prejudices you need to purge. atheism is a good start, but its of no use if you don’t get religion out of the picture.

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  12. and what’s a dhimmi? interesting slang, but no idea what it means. would love to use it in a conversation, so pray enlighten me.

    >>>> Google the word. Or perhaps you haven’t heard of it either.

    sundry what exactly is a hippocrat? a zoo administrator? or maybe you are better read than i thought, and are referring to a representative of a regime of horses (yes, i googled that one!)? either way off topic again!

    >>>>>Beats me, you tell me.

    seriously, look inwards. maybe you have latent prejudices you need to purge. atheism is a good start, but its of no use if you don’t get religion out of the picture.

    >>>>>>I am sorry, I can’t leave religion out of the picture since religious idiots are hell bent on destroying freedoms of people not just in India but worldwide. Their dhimmi collaborators are making sure that attention is never drawn towards religious and the evil that it preaches. Thanks for the free advice, but it was higly uncalled for.

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  13. One more thing, Rajkamal, I don’t have any prejudice towards Islamofacists. Prejudice comes from the word pre judging, I am not pre judging these fanatics, I am judging them based on what is written in their texts and what is happening all around me.

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  14. @sundry actually i meant your latent prejudice towards migrants. hence the freudian slip about australians. but you seem to be revealing much more.how did you read anything pro-islam in what i said? are you transferring some of your islamist/fascistic biases onto me now?

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  15. rajkamal mate.. i dont think u got the balls to speak out against ur jihadi bros who kill ppl when a lajja is released or a satanic verses comes out..

    its much easier to lecture the hindu right… wot r they going to do?
    throw a few stones on valentines day?

    stop hiding behind these technicalities …
    u bleeding heart hindu hating liberals use “universal freedom of expeession” when it suits u..
    that time u don’t remember nasreen is non-indian ..

    u probably already know all this.. so develop some balls if u can or keep reading aman ki asha TOI or ur fav boorkha dutt on ndtv..

    this blog aint for u dude… so thanks for fking off..

    k… enuf said..

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  16. @kautilya brilliant argument! if you ceased to exist, the world’s avergage IQ would dip by a full 10 points. why didn’t i think of using abuse when logic doesn’t work?! transfer your islamist and misogynist biases onto me when a coherent argument doesn’t pop up! i am stumped and shamed; wallowing in self-pity now!

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  18. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>@sundry actually i meant your latent prejudice towards migrants. hence the freudian slip about australians. but you seem to be revealing much more.how did you read anything pro-islam in what i said? are you transferring some of your islamist/fascistic biases onto me now?

    WTF are you talking about, huh! your arguments (if they can be called arguments at all) are obtuse.
    What exactly are you? Are you dissatisfied with life just because you don’t have a girl friend or a sex life per se. Why are you venting your frustration on this forum.
    There are a host of websites for sexually frsutrated people like you who can’t get a partner in real life. You sound as if you have had a very bad childhood with extremely abusive parents. I am sorry for your bad expereinces, my dear, I sympathise with you. But you don’t really need this website, what you need a good loving atmosphere and a well qualified shrink.
    I am sorry, because I can’t help you with either, since I have a good, healthy sex life and I never required a shrik. May I suggest the “Yellow Pages”.

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