HYDERABAD: The city's art fraternity on Monday condemned the arrest of artist Chandra Mohan, a final-year student of Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU), at Vadodara, for his `obscene' artwork last week.

Over 50 artists conducted an emergency meeting here on Sunday and expressed their solidarity with Mohan.

The meeting condemned the attitude of the university's Vice-Chancellor, Manoj Soni, for not only overlooking the academic interests but also joining hands with the rightwing hooligans to create havoc on the campus and disrupt communal harmony.

Veteran artist Professor K. Laxma Goud said, "We will not tolerate political interference in academic and cultural practice. Who are these so-called custodians of our culture," he asked.

He further stated that it was a shame to arrest a young student and confine him to jail, besides suspend a professor and well-known art critic Dr. Shivaji Pannikkar.

Fundamentalists

Art writer and historian M. C. Mohan alleged that rightwing fundamentalists had been targeting this institute for the last two decades.

"Several eminent teachers were forced to leave the university following humiliation done to them," he said.

Artist and teacher Padma Reddy said the artist community was deeply worried about the situation created for Mohan.

Prof. Sreenivas Reddy of JNTU College of Fine Arts said that Mohan was a meritorious student and also a national awardee.

Hence, he should be released immediately and charges framed against him must be withdrawn.

Artist Rajeswara Rao condemned the incident and wanted to know why artists and art institutions were always being targeted.

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