Philistines brush aside paint of history: Aurangzeb as terrorist

Philistines brush aside paint of history

NT Bureau | Fri, 07 Mar, 2008 , 02:41 PM

History, in normal course, is the stuff of academic tomes. But these days, history, and the depiction of it through an artistic medium, is newspaper headlines.
All through last week, the national media and the self-appointed custodians of free speech were aghast at the protest from a large section of people over the portrayal of Rajputs in Jodha Akbar, a highly opinionated and patently fictionalised celluloid offering on the Mughal king Akbar and one of his numerous wives, Jodha.
The usual catchphrases of 'freedom of expression', 'creative licence' were bandied about with gay indignation.

But when faced with an obvious communal protest to a realistic exploration (all based on facts as recorded in official documents) through some miniature paintings on the life and time of another Mughal ruler, Aurangazeb, the same bleeding-heart, tub-thumping liberals are conspicuous by their shameless absence.

Ergo, with nary a protest from the civil society, the miniature painting exhibition on Aurangazeb's reign in India, was brought to an unceremonious close through a mix of minority communalism and police highhandedness.

The exhibition of miniature paintings, at the Lalit Kala Akademi in Chennai, was held by the well-known and highly respected Indologist Francois Gautier.

He had, under the aegis of Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT), showcased paintings on the Mughal king Aurangazeb.The exhibition had kicked off on 3 March and was to be on till 9 March.

But after yesterday’s pregnant-with-violence fracas, which hits at the roots of every kind of freedom that a democracy is supposed to be based on, the expo has died a premature death.

And what more, four persons, including a volunteer for the organisers of the exhibition, were detained for interrogation.

The objection of the Muslim groups was specifically to two paintings: Demolition of Keshava Rai temple in Mathura and that of Somnath temple by the armies of Aurangazeb.
Their specious claim was that it was communally sensitive and would 'disturb peace'.The Muslim groups, which arrived at the exhibition spot armed with dangerous intent, would not allow the exhibition to continue.

They even threatened to throw out the paintings, some eyewitnesses said. The Muslim groups had also lodged complaints with the police against the exhibition.

The police, who arrived in the scene amidst mounting tension, straightaway towed the line of the Muslim protestors and asked the FACT members to call off the show, leaving a sense of chagrin among the lay public and the connoisseurs of art.

The so-called 'offending' miniature painting was, as a matter of fact, based on the records available at the Bikaner Museum in Rajasthan.

Further, the same paintings had been featured in places like New Delhi, Pune and Bangalore. There nothing was found amiss or objectionable.

So what happened?

Janata Party State president Chandralekha, who visited the exhibition venue yesterday, is in no doubt.

'This is minority communalism,' she says, seething with indignation at the injustice of it all. 'Anti-Hindu forces won the day. History was not the issue there' she adds.
Hindu Munnani chief Rama Gopalan, who along with his cadre tried to argue and work sense into the police on Friday, is even more categorical.

'Those who cannot stand the moral force of truth have created havoc'.

But he was equally scathing on the police. ‘They had assured to provide adequate security for the exhibition.

But not only did they fail to provide any security cover, but also attacked Hindu Munnani volunteers and vandalised some paintings.'

'The reign of Aurangazeb was one of terror to Hindus and all their places of worship. This was something that even elementary history books have recorded. So what could be the objection of the Muslim groups,' asks V Rajesh, a chartered accountant and a witness to the unseemly shenanigans on Thursday morning.

Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, who visited the exhibition and against whom much of the anger is directed, in a press release said: 'The exhibition seemed to dwell only on Aurangazeb's alleged misdeeds, and said not a word about his munificent contributions'.

He was of the view that the exhibition would promote enmity between various groups.
The painter in question, Gautier, himself is generally seen as a man of reason.
A French by birth, he has dedicated himself to the study of Indian history and its symbols of faith. Referring to the culture of Aurangazeb as an 'intolerant one' he presents the picture of Aurangazeb's brother as a study in contrast.

The brother, Dara, was a cosmopolitan spirit, and had taken keen interest in Upanishads and Hindu culture.

But going by the despicable incidents, the philistine protestors neither knew their Aurangazeb. And alas, Dara too.

http://newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?section=16&id=5645

Here follows a complete report on the "FACT Exhibition on Aurangazeb", which got aborted due to the interference of Arcot Nawab, Jihadi organistaions such as TMMK & MNP and other Muslim fundamentalists, who had put pressure on the City Police and the Secretary of the Venue Lalit Kala Academy:

NO ROOM FOR “FACTS” IN DRAVIDIAN LAND!

FACTS ABOUT THE FACT – Exhibition on Aurangazeb!

FACT (Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism) had organized an Exhibition of Paintings under the theme "Aurangazeb 'as he was' According to Moghol Records" in Chennai from the 3rd of March to 9th of March, 2008. The venue of the Exhibition was "Lalit Kala Academy" (National Academy of Art), Greams Road, Chennai.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Mr.Vittal, Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Mr.B.Raman Former Additional Secretary of UOI & RAW Official and Mr.S.Gurumurthy, Columnist, on the 3rd of 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 the 5th, a group of Muslims (around 15 people) visited and argued with the volunteers of the exhibition about the authenticity of the paintings and the historical information. The evening news paper "News Today" carried a report about the inauguration of the exhibition.

A Thursday of Torment!

At the venue:-

On Thursday the 6th morning, City Express (City edition of The New Indian Express) carried a report about the Exhibition. A few Police officers from the local area police station (Thousand Lights-F4) were posted at the venue, because of the ruckus caused by the Muslims the previous day. The academy in-charge Mr.R.M.Palaniappan asked the organizers to vacate, in anticipation of problems. The Asst.Commissioner of Police Mr.Murali visited the venue, went around the exhibits, questioned the organizer & volunteers, allegedly made some arrogant remarks and went out. Then, Hindu Munnani President Shri.Ramagopalan and VHP office bearer Shri.Gopal ji had visited. Shri.Gopal ji had arranged for the visit of press persons and TV anchors, who all came and covered the exhibition. Smt.Tamizhisai Sounderarajan, State Deputy General Secretary of BJP and her colleagues had also visited in the afternoon. Smt.Chandralekha, IAS (Retd) & President of Janatha Party, Tamil Nadu, too had visited.

Then around 3 pm, Prince of Arcot Mr.Mohammed Ali had visited and gone around the exhibits. He had debated and argued with the volunteers present there about the truth & authenticity of the paintings and the information they carried. He had even contested that all are fabricated and distorted history and had questioned the necessity of conducting such an exhibition in Chennai. He had also blamed the organizers that, they have a hidden agenda of inciting communal hatred. He had opined that the exhibition must be closed with immediate effect. He had departed saying that he would issue statements through press meet about the exhibition and that he would also take the issue to the appropriate authority.

Then in the evening some TV crews and press reporters had visited to cover the exhibition. They had a mini interview with Mr.Francois Gautier, the Founder Trustee of FACT. At that time a group of Muslims, allegedly from TMMK (Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam) and MNP (Manitha Neethi Paasarai) had come to the venue, took photographs of a few exhibits with their mobile phone cameras and picked up arguments with the volunteers, most of them elderly women from decent family backgrounds. Later on, the Muslims had threatened Mr.Francois and the volunteers to close the show immediately or face the consequences the next day. When all these arguments were going on between the organizers and the Muslims, the police had not bothered to come up (The hall was in the first floor) from basement. All the exchange of arguments and the Muslims' threats had been captured on camera by the TV crews and they had flashed the news all over during the 7 pm bulletin and thereafter.

The group of Muslims, then, had gone out and protested to the police officers who were posted there. Then they had started mobilizing their cadres through phone calls and slowly their numbers have started swelling. In the meantime, as the Ass.Commissioner Mr.Murali was adamant on the closing of the show, Mr.Francois had left the venue for meeting the Comissioner of Police after having failed to convince the ACP Mr.Murali. The man in-charge of the venue Mr.Palaniappan had given a letter of termination of the show to the organizers / volunteers and asked them to accept and sign. But, the volunteers were believed to have requested him to wait till the arrival of Mr.Francois.

In the meantime, as the crowd of Muslims had started swelling, the ACP Mr.Murali got tensed up and shouted at the volunteers. He had rushed up to the hall with his full team of around dozen officers and started pulling down the exhibits with force despite the repeated plea of the volunteers to wait till the arrival of Mr.Francois from the City Police commissioner's office. Even when the volunteers had pleaded that they would remove the paintings themselves, he had not bothered to listen to them and abused them in unparliamentarily language. He had used worse & unprintable words against Mr.Francois and had termed him as 'terrorist'. Then he had forced the volunteers to close & lock the hall and arrested four organizers / volunteers (Mrs.Srarswathi, Mrs.Vijayalakshmi, Mrs.Malathi and Mr.B.R.Haran) and one senior citizen (Mr.S.Raman-a visitor from RSS) and took them to the local station (Thousand Lights-F4). Mr.Sadagopan, Editor, Vijayabaratham, who was there on the spot had rushed for arranging lawyers for helping the organizers / volunteers.

At the Police Station:-

When the poor volunteers were taken by a police van, a big group of Muslims were seen standing outside the gates enjoying the show. The five people had been detained in the station for about 45 minutes and enquired. The enquiry had been conducted by the ACP Mr.Murali inside his cabin and the volunteers had been offered seats in front of him. They had been questioned about their profession and their connection to Mr.Francois. The ACP had even talked of confiscating the Passport of Mrs.Saraswathi’s daughter Ms.Anupama. He had again termed Mr.Francois as a "Foreign Terrorist" and had blamed that the volunteers were helping & assisting him to incite communal violence in the otherwise peaceful Tamil Nadu. He had asked the venue in-charge Mr. Palaniappan, in front of the volunteers, to give a written complaint on the organizer / volunteers. He had not bothered to listen to the explanations given by the volunteers and started taking notes of their details. Before that, he had asked the senior citizen Mr.Raman (72) to go saying that someone had phoned up for him.

In the meantime, as the news of the arrest of organizers / volunteers had spread, Mr.V.sundaram, IAS had phoned up the Home Secretary & DGP thrice, Mrs.Chandralekha IAS & Dr.Subramania Swamy (from Delhi) had phoned up the Commissioner of Police, Chennai City and Smt.Radha Rajan Secretary, VIGIL Public Forum, had spoken to the Joint commissioner Mr.Bala Subramaniam condemning the highhandedness of the police and demanding the immediate release of the detainees. While the ACP Mr.Murali had been vehemently blaming the volunteers during the course of the enquiry, he had got a call from the Joint Commissioner and immediately after that, he had calmed down and asked Mr.Palaniappan to stop writing his complaint and had ordered the Inspector to allow the volunteers to go after taking a written statement from them. They had been asked to give a statement saying, "We were brought to the station from Lalit Kala Academy, the venue of the exhibition for enquiry and were allowed to go home after completion of the enquiry".

The four volunteers, who had been detained 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. It was the Muslims thugs, who had barged in to the hall, created trouble and threatened the volunteers and organizers, while the volunteers had been calm and composed and trying to explain things to them. The police had let the trouble shooters free and took the organizers to the station! A thing like this can happen only in Tamil Nadu, where a "Minority Government" runs for the welfare of only "Minorities" and the TN Police, as usual, are stooges for the party / alliance in power. The four volunteers had lost their peace on Shivrathri and finally they could neither go to the Temple nor do poojas at home!

- Anjanasudhan.


PS: - The Effect:-

The TOP leaders of Hindu organizations like, Shri.Surya Narayana Rao & Shri.Kuppuram of RSS, Shri.Ramagopalan ji of Hindu Munnani, Shri.Gopal ji of VHP and Shri.Sukumaran Nambiar of BJP, with the help of Shri.Sadagopan are working on the issue and they are likely to take serious measures.

Dr.Subramanyam Swamy, Mrs.Chandralekha IAS and Mr.V.Sundaram, IAS are also focusing on the issue and are likely to take it to Senior Government authorities.

Smt.Radha Rajan and Shri.S.V.Badri will be meeting Senior Police Officials on Saturday the 8th of March on this issue.

Mr.Francois Gautier, who had left for Mumbai today (07-03-08) for another exhibition on Shivaji, is likely to get back tomorrow or the day after.

All are determined to conduct the exhibition again successfully!


MEDIA REPORTS:-


Aurangazeb Expo abruptly closed – The New Indian Express dated 7th March 2008.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE920080306222128&Page=9&Title=Chennai&Topic=0&


Art Exhibition on Aurangazeb cancelled – The Hindu dated 7th March 2008.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/07/stories/2008030759280300.htm

Aurangazeb Exhibition creates flutter – Deccan Chronicle dated 7th March 2008.

http://www.deccan.com/chennaichronicle/home/homedetails.asp#Aurangazeb