Painting with a Pain

Should artists curtail their liberal imagination? This is the question now being posed everywhere. The most recent arrest of Chandra Mohan, an arts student, has made people realize the restrictions of the so-called “freedom of expression” which an Indian is entitled to. So even with the constitution providing for such a freedom then what is with the moral police to stick their noses into something that they don’t understand (in fact not many people can understand ART including me) and creating this nation-wide controversy on how unlimited the freedom of art is. Well there are many things (besides art in itself) that I still can’t seem to understand.

Firstly, what is the parameter to every freedom that we enjoy? And who sets these parameters? Well if you are talking about the government setting it then everyone is better off with no such parameters. This is because everyone knows the after effect of setting such a parameter. The next day the opposition party calls for a nationwide strike and again the news channels get an opportunity to sit and discuss the drawbacks of such things.Another controversy!!! What about the Indian bureaucrats?Do they have what it takes to set these parameters? Well thinking of it I don’t think so. So then why all these far-fetched questions? Because somebody has to set the parameters for such a country like India where such parameters not explained might lead to many innocents having to spend many nights in jail. So thinking in this perspective one has to find a suitable yardstick that can set such parameters. So what I don’t understand is why cant each one set a parameter for himself. Who can be the better judge of oneself than that person himself? So it is better off that each and everyone sets parameters for himself.

Secondly, the Vadodara incident actually happened at an exhibition at the Maharaja Sayaji Rao University when the paintings were all kept for internal assessment. So how come the BJP activists were allowed to enter the campus? Isn’t there something known as security? Internal assessment is equivalent of an examination and if strangers are allowed to disturb the conduct of examinations then what use is there of conducting such examinations? The real issue that the BJP activists had was that the so-called painting was “obscene and offensive”. But the real issue that I want to point to is how come there was no security for the students and that too when an exam was being conducted. The more pathetic thing that was what followed this uninvited-entry. The student was put behind bars and had to face the brunt of the moral police. This student was imprisoned for 5 days before being let off on bail. Then there is the poor Dean of the Fine Arts Faculty, Shivaji Panikkar, who has been suspended for rendering his support to his student. What was the mistake that these two committed? Was it such a horrendous crime? These people have done their job of painting and supporting respectively and together with it have also paid a huge price. Many have stated this attack as “pre-planned”. But whatever I can see is that the two people have been made the ‘scapegoats’ for such a politicized drama.

This is one of the many incidents of art being subjected to such mistreatments. There is the long pending case of M.F.Hussain for depicting Hindu gods and goddesses in an offensive manner. If it is about obscenity somebody is talking about then what is the future of many monuments where women have been sculpted in a so-called obscene manner. So offensive and obscenity are words to be used depending on an individual. What might appear as offensive to somebody might be pleasing to another and in a country like India that is truly the case.

So what is happening all over the country right now? Protests everywhere and that too all the artists have joined together and put up a common front. Even activists like Arundathi Roy have taken this opportunity to express her views on freedom to artists. In fact it seems as if the whole of India is out there to lend a helping hand to the artist. The protests are not being confined to Vadodara alone and it has spread its wings over Delhi too and how can I forget the numerous television channels waiting for such a controversy to break open in order for them to start a debate of their own and even a nationwide poll with a very obvious result. The protesters are demanding a full probe ( thankfully not a CBI probe as if the CBI has got no other job to do) into this matter. They are also demanding the cancellation of the suspension order against the Dean on the pretext that it was his job to defend his student.

Though this incident has sparked off many protests it is time we think about what it has brought into the limelight. This incident has made people realise how “unabridged freedom” (or is it abridged) that one enjoys might lead to dangerous consequences. This has made people realise that even the biggest democracy in the world is home to such idle acts of terrorism. It has made people realise that India is still a country where the society around you is as important as you are which means that the feelings and the so-called religious sentiments of others have a great role to play in one’s own life. It has made everyone understand that it is better when the parameters have already been established by the society than it being established later on which might be like adding more spice to the already existing protest. The mistake has already been made and now (me being an optimist) I don’t see even a faint light of it being “really solved”.

Now for the future course of action. I would like to ask what future course? As I mentioned its not advisable to restrict one’s freedom now as people have known what it means to have such freedom. But, as usual, one can expect the government to take such a step. The only future course of action that I believe in would be when each one takes that step to change for the better. Here changing doesn’t mean restricting oneself but it means that one should know the limitations of what is possible in a conservative (though it is self-proclaimed to be rational) country like India. Well what is the best way to end this rather nationalistic content than by saying Jai Hind!!!