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Vadodara violence

This refers to the article "Cultures & vultures: wake-up call from Vadodara" (May 18). The attempts by self-styled guardians of culture to gag freedom of expression are a blatant violation of democratic rights.

The faculty and students of fine arts at M.S. University, Vadodara, are under siege by obscurantist forces. Worse is the connivance of the university authorities with these forces. They have handed over the reins of administration to outside elements whose main aim is to create fear and terror in the minds of students and teachers.

T. Marx,
Karaikal

Moral policing has reached condemnable heights with the arrest of fine arts student Chandramohan. It is time we said a firm `no' to such acts of violence against artists. The exhibition was not meant for public viewing.

That it is becoming difficult to exercise artistic freedom even in a private setting shows how far we need to move from a dogmatic society.

Zulfiya Hamzaki,
Bangalore

The article is timely and hard-hitting. I hope L.K. Advani and V.K. Malhotra who have decided to define what artistic freedom is ("No freedom to hurt, says Advani," May 16), read the article. One has never heard of universities sending out invitations to "citizens" to come and view material submitted for internal assessment. The BJP has not realised, despite its rejection by the people, that it is behaving like a frog in the well. It is completely out of touch with modern India.

T.V. Shankar Narayanan,
Hosur

The freedom to swing one's fist ends where another's nose begins. Similarly, artistic freedom is to be exercised within reasonable parameters. It is not a licence to hurt religious sentiments.

Avuthu Srihari,
Secunderabad

Before espousing the cause of artistic freedom, we should also understand what art is. Any professed expression of art with no apparent noble aim deserves to be condemned outright.

R. Venugopal,
Chennai

Can someone please draw the line that divides artistic freedom from artistic exploitation? Moral policing will be there as long as there is exploitation of art for publicity.

Joshua Kalapati,
Chennai

It is unfortunate that the young art student did not realise that artistic freedom is not unlimited. At the same time, there is no justification for the so-called moral police to take the law into their own hands.

C.V. Krishnamoorthy,
Bangalore

Besides freedom of expression, an artist also has a responsibility towards society and people's sentiments. Freedom should not be taken for granted. There was and will always be need for some restrictions on absolute freedom.

Manish Amlathe,
Bangalore

Artists, it is believed, are sensitive but it is painful to see that artists like Mr. Chandramohan are insensitive to the feelings of millions of people.

Sudha Udipi,
Hyderabad

The works of the young man have hurt the religious sentiments of many. But instead of dragging him to the streets and putting him behind bars, the authorities should have made him ponder over the ill feelings his paintings have created among the masses and encouraged him to develop his talent in a better way, without getting embroiled in controversial work.

K.S. Shalini,
Chennai

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