The Hindu : National : No freedom to hurt, says Advani

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Wednesday, May 16, 2007
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No freedom to hurt, says Advani

Neena Vyas

BJP meet discusses Vadodara incident

L.K. Advani

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party does not support a concept of personal artistic freedom to hurt religious sentiments, Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani said here on Tuesday at the parliamentary party meeting.

Referring to the recent happenings at M.S. University, Vadodara, the party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha V.K. Malhotra, told newspersons that Mr. Advani reportedly said that not only Hindu gods and goddesses but also Jesus Christ was depicted in an `unseemly and indecent fashion' in some of the art works by students of the University.

Mr. Malhotra was critical of artist M.F. Husain and termed his paintings "totally perverted." According to him, Mr. Advani told his MPs "the BJP could not support unlimited personal freedom of an artist to hurt religious sentiments."

In a written report on the Vadodara University happenings circulated by the BJP at its press conference, it claimed that "citizens" who went to view the art work by students on display in the University on May 9 found some of the works to be "deplorable." Some "citizens" demanded that the works be removed, but the students refused.

According to the BJP, the protests by "citizens" led by BJP leader Naraj Jain "in his private capacity as a citizen" were "peaceful." Mr. Jain later filed a complaint with the police and the student Chandramohan was arrested.

The BJP's note stated that the Dean added "fuel to the fire" by making statements that "offended public sentiments" and as a consequence there was a "public outcry from a cross section of society, including students of the University... ."

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