Artists protect culture policing
By VP Raghu, Chennai (Deccan Chronicle, 8 March 2008)
Artists in the city who are up in arms against the policeexhibiton organisers showdown at the Lalit Kala Academy on Thursday night, have said nobody had the right to interfere in artistic freedom.
Though the police team, led by assistant commissioner K.N. Murali, took away all the paintings from the exhibi tion hall on Thursday night, no case had been registered against the artist or organisers at the Thousand Light police station till Friday evening.
Reacting to the incident, noted artist Achuthan Kudalur, said artists' freedom of expression was fast disappearing in India. "We are all concerned about it," he said.
According to Prof. G. Chandrasekharan, principal, Government college of fine arts, Chennai, the incident showed that artist freedom had been curtailed. "What is wrong in expressing certain things through paintings?" he asked.
Another artist P. Gopinath pointed out that it was a clear case of dragging art into politics. "Every artist should have the freedom to express his views. Art should be seen as art only," said Mr. Gopinath Yet another artist from Chennai, Mr Manoharan, noted that nobody has the right to interfere in artistic freedom. "Police should not yield to groups trying for cheap publicity," he added.
On Thursday night, the police had taken Saraswathi (65), D .Vijayalakshmi (62) and Malathi (47), belonging to Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism, to the Thousand Lights station for 'enquiry' after they assisted the conduct of an exhibition by French journalist Francois Gautier at Lalit Kala Academy's regional centre on Greams Road.
The police initially suggested the removal of two pictures depicting demolition of Keshava Rai temple in Mathura and that of Somnath temple by the armies of Aurangzeb.
However, the organisers of the exhibition told police that they would not remove the pictures as it violated their artistic freedom.
While Nawab Mohamed Abdul Ali, the prince of Arcot, had condemned the motive behind the painting exhibition, Hindu Munnani leader Rama Gopalan said the exhibition must go on as it merely reflected history.
Culture cop: Assistant Commissioner of Police KN Murali takes away a painting from the Lalit Kala Academy hall on Thursday despite objection from the organizers. A photograph by A.R. Anser
http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle/Web/DCChennai/Photographs/2008/03/08/002/08_03_2008_002_004_001.jpg
http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle/ArticleText.aspx?article=08_03_2008_001_018
Chennai online editorial (March 8, 2008)
Learn To Respect Facts!
Chennai is witnessing several unprecedented happenings. Something-not-so-good happened on Thursday.
For the first time in living memory, an art exhibitionm in Chennai had to be closed down, just because a few self-styled secularists of Chennai objected to what they called the 'communal' trait of a couple of paintings.
Francois Gautier, a Delhi based French journalist's art exhibition on Aurangazeb was opened on Monday and it was scheduled to last till Sunday. On Thursday, a handful of visitors including the Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali wanted the exhibition to be closed.
The police intervened and forced the organisers to close down the show. They also took three women to the Police Station for having ' assisted organising the Exhibition”.
The police had initially suggested removal of two paintings depicting demolition of Keshava Rai Temple in Mathura and that of Somnath temple. The organisers of the exhibition are believed to have insisted that either it would be a complete show or no show at all. They believed in the freedom of expression.
Now, the question is, are we not matured enough to see art as art and facts as facts? Can we wish history away? And why should we? Should not the present generation know about our history? After all what the pictures depicted was facts drawn from the records of historians. We have read it a thousand times.
It was organised by a well known French journalist and he had no personal axe to grind. He wanted to present History as it is. He has conducted the same exhibition earlier in Delhi, Pune and Bangalore.
We should learn to respect history. After all facts do not cease to exist just because they are hidden.
http://www.chennaionline.com/Editorial/Mar08/02edt26.asp
Aurangazeb and Islamic compassion-I
V SUNDARAM | Sat, 08 Mar, 2008 , 03:45 PM (Newstoday)
FACT (Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism) had organized an Exhibition of Paintings under the theme ‘AURANGAZEB’ as he was’ according to Mughal Records’ in Chennai from 3 to 9 March, 2008.
The venue of the Exhibition was ‘Lalit Kala Academi’ (National Academy of Art), Greams Road, Chennai. The exhibition was inaugurated by Vittal, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, B Raman, former Additional Secretary to the Government of India and S Gurumurthy, columnist, on 3 March at 5 pm. The inauguration was attended by about 100 people. Prior to the inauguration, a press meet was also conducted. From the next morning onwards, visitors started coming and the numbers gradually increased towards the evening. On Wednesday ( 5 March), a group of Muslims (around 15 people) belonging to the TMMK (Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam), MNP (Manitha Neethi Paasarai) and other Muslim outfits, visited the exhibition hall and spoke in an intimidating manner to the volunteers of the exhibition about the authenticity of the paintings and the historical information that was being exhibited. This newspaper had carried a report about the inauguration of the exhibition.
A few police officers from the local area police station (Thousand Lights-F4) were posted at the venue, because of the ruckus created by the Muslims at the venue of the exhibition the previous day. The Lalit Kala Academi in-charge R M Palaniappan asked the organisers to vacate, in anticipation of problems. The Assistant Commissioner of Police Murali visited the venue, went around the exhibits, questioned the organisers and volunteers, allegedly made some barbarously arrogant remarks and went out. Then, Hindu Munnani president Ramagopalan and VHP office bearer Gopalji made a visit to the exhibition. Gopalji had arranged for the visit of press persons and TV anchors, who all came and covered the exhibition. Tamizhisai Sounderarajan, State deputy general secretary of BJP and her colleagues also visited in the afternoon. Chandralekha, president, Janata Party, Tamilnadu, too had visited the exhibition.
Then around 3 pm on 6 March, Prince of Arcot Mohammed Ali visited and went around the exhibits. He hotly debated and argued with the volunteers present there about the truth and authenticity of the paintings and the information they carried. He expressed the view that all the paintings on display about the atrocities of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (Persian: ???????? (full title: Al-Sultan al-Azam wal Khaqan al-Mukarram Abdul Muzaffar Muhiuddin Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur Alamgir I, Padshah Ghazi) against the Hindus of India constituted a form of fabricated and distorted history. He questioned the necessity of conducting such an exhibition in Chennai. He also blamed the organisers for having a hidden agenda of inciting communal hatred. Finally he concluded that the exhibition must be closed with immediate effect. Before leaving, he said that he would issue statements through a press meet about the exhibition and that he would also take up the issue with the appropriate authority. The Prince of Arcot in a press release has said, ‘the exhibition seemed to dwell only on Aurangazeb’s alleged misdeeds and not a word about his munificent contributions. The exhibition would only promote enmity between various groups.’ In this context, I wounder weather the Prince of Arcot and other Muslim outfits were promoting communal harmony at all in the real sense at the venue of the exbition?
The Assistant Commissioner of Police who later visited the venue used most unparliamentary words against the organisers including against Francois Gautier who was the main architect behind the exhibition. I have it on the authority of Chandralekha, president, Tamilnadu Janata Party and many other respectable citizens who were present at the venue that the police functioned in a reprehensibly partial manner expressing themselves in open support of the Muslim outfits. After forcing the volunteers to close down the exhibition, the police took four organisers / volunteers ( Saraswati, Vijayalakshmi, Malathi and B R Haran) and one senior citizen (S Raman-a visitor from RSS) into custody and took them to Thousand Lights Police Station after 7 PM. This was in gross violation of the instructions of the Supreme Court of India regarding the procedure to be followed by the police before arresting any person. Moreover the Police had no business to arrest highly educated and cultured women from decent families after 7 PM. Sadagopan, editor, Vijayabaratham, who was there on the spot rushed outside for arranging lawyers for helping the organisers / volunteers illegally apprehended by the police.
The four volunteers, who were detained without any cause in the station, have very decent family backgrounds, are well educated and they have never gone inside a police station even once in their lives so far. The Muslim who had barged in to the hall, created trouble and threatened the volunteers and organisers, were let free by the police. The police had let the trouble shooters free and took only the organisers to the station! A thing like this can happen only in Tamilnadu, where a ‘Minority Government’ runs for the welfare of only ‘Minorities’.
FACT, Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism, was started in 2003 by Francois Gautier, a French journalist and writer who has been covering for 25 years India and South Asia as a political correspondent for numerous newspapers such as Journal de GenËve, Le Figaro, or Ouest-France. All throughout his reporting years, he noticed that most western correspondents were projecting the problems, warts and all, the shortcomings of India, but never its positive points. He also felt that the problems of the Hindus, the majority community of India, are never highlighted, but that rather, they are despised or made fun off. On top of that, their history has been written in such a biased and unscientific manner, that very little of its unparalleled greatness and unique spirituality comes through. Hence when Francois Gautier got a Journalism Prize (Natchiketa Award of Excellence in Journalism) from the Prime Minister of India, he used the prize money to mount a series of exhibitions highlighting the plight of Hindus today and throughout the ages. The first one dealt with the ethnic cleansing of the Kashmiri Hindus, four hundred thousand of them having become refuges in their own country. This exhibition was shown successfully in Delhi, Bangalore, Poland, Germany, Israel, England, and Holland and in the US Congress last July. Another exhibition on the Hindus in Bangladesh is ready, path-breaking project on Aurangzeb’s times has started and one more on the Inquisition in Goa is on the cards. The exhibition that has been illegally closed by the police belongs to this series. What is legal in Delhi, Bangalore, Poland, Germany, Israel, England, Holland and USA, becomes illegal in Tamilnadu, thanks to our enlightened police force.
I will now endeavour to present in a series of well documented articles based on original Islamic sources about the large scale destruction of Hindu Temples in India by Muslim invaders and Rulers from 8th century AD to the end of the 18th century AD. Aurangazeb, the Mughal Emperor, belonged to this anti-Hindu tradition. Sita Ram Goel in his classic volumes Hindu Temples, What happened to them? has furnished irrefutable historical, photographic, epigraphic, literary documentary evidence regarding the large scale destruction of Hindu Temples in India from 700 AD to 1800 AD. To quote his words in this context: ‘The evidence presented in these volumes, from purely Islamic sources, shows that the destruction of Hindu Temples at the hands of Islamized invaders continued for more than eleven hundred (1100) years, from the middle of the seventh century to the end of the eighteenth century. It took place all over the vast cradle of Hindu Culture, from Sinkiang in the North to Tamil Nadu in the South, and from Seistan in the West to Assam in the East. All along, the iconoclasts remained convinced that they were putting into practice the highest tenets of their Islamic Religion. They also saw to it that a record was kept of what they prized as a pious performance. The language of the record speaks for itself. It leaves no doubt that they took considerable pride in doing what they did. It is inconceivable that a constant and consistent behaviour pattern, witnessed for a long time and over a vast area, can be explained except in terms of a settled system of belief which leaves no scope for second thoughts. Looking at the very large number of temples, big and small, destroyed or desecrated or plundered or converted into Muslim monuments, economic or political explanations can be only a futile, if not fraudulent, exercise. The explanations are not even plausible. In fact, it is not at all difficult to locate the system of belief which inspired the behaviour pattern for eleven hundred years. We have only to turn to the Scriptures of Islam - the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet, and we run straight into what we are looking for. The principles and the pious precedents which were practiced and followed by the subsequent swordsmen of Islam are, all of them, there. The Scriptures of Islam do not merely record what happened in the past; they also prescribed that what is recorded should be imitated by the faithful in the future, till the end of time. That is why the swordsmen of Islam who functioned in times much later than that of the Quran and the Sunnah, did what they did. It is a very nature of Islamic Scriptures that they make permanent what can otherwise be dated and dismissed as temporary aberrations.”
The scriptures containing the above message are still being taught even today in hundreds of maktab-s and madrasa-s over the length and breadth of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Missionaries of Islam that are turned out by these Institutions, year after year, are never told by their teachers that the prescriptions regarding other people’s places of worship stand abrogated or are out of date. At the same time, the swordsmen who destroyed innumerable temples and monasteries all over the vast cradle of Hindu culture during the last fourteen hundred years, retain their halos as the heroes of Islam. This alone can explain why Hindu Temples become the first targets of attack whenever Muslim mobs are incited against the Hindus by the Mullahs and Politicians in India, Kashmir and Bangladesh.
This story is not the end; not even the beginning of the end but only the end of the beginning.
http://newstodaynet.com/printer.php?id=5688
No comments:
Post a Comment