In the world’s largest democracy, India, artists and supporters of the arts are taking a stand to protect their work from a rise in intolerance towards freedom of expression.
India’s freedom of expression is increasingly under attack as Hindu religious groups succeed in charging artists with obscenity and with hurting their religious sentiments. Last week, a post-graduate art student, Chandramohan Srilamantula, was arrested on charges of obscenity for depicting naked men in his work, after members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, led by local BJP leader Niraj Jain, arrived at the Fine Arts Faculty of MS University in Vadodara and made claims that his artwork offended their religious sentiments. Dean Shivji Panikkar was suspended from his position at the university for opposing the student’s arrest.
A protest against his arrest held in front of the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai transformed into a jubilant celebration after Srilamnatula was released after four days of imprisonment. Some of India’s most prominent artists participated, carrying banners that read “Down with Moral Policing” and “Defend our Cultural Freedom.” Renowned Indian artist MF Hussain sent a fax of a painting depicting the fall of democracy and the oppression of free thought. Called the “Picasso of India,” and one of India’s most famous artists, Hussain has been living in London and Dubai since 2006 when his depiction of naked Hindu goddesses led to obscenity charges, death threats and an attack on his home by members of a militant Hindu youth group.
With a rapid rise in economic growth, the world’s largest democracy is seeing an alarming rise in a culture of artistic intolerance and “moral policing by right-wing Hindu groups” who claim to be protecting Indian culture from “malign foreign influences,” as stated by the BBC. Last month, a man famously took court action against Hollywood and Bollywood stars Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty because Gere repeatedly kissed Shetty on the cheeks during an AIDS awareness rally. The plaintiff argued that public kissing went against Indian culture.
Dancer Jhelum Paranjepae commented to the BBC, “Even Indian classical dance derives its mudras (ritual hand gestures) from Indian’s erotic sculptures. Are we going to ban that next?”
This article was published Sunday, May 20, 2007.
