Artist Exiled by Hindu Right Finds Asylum in Qatar, Not India
M.F. Husain, once celebrated as India's Picasso, was driven into exile by Hindu nationalist threats and lawsuits over his nude depictions of Hindu deities. Now, decades later, his collected works are celebrated in a dedicated museum in Qatar. While Al Jazeera notes Husain was hounded by the 'Hindu right,' it glosses over the institutional failure of the Indian state, which, despite its secular
constitutional promise, failed to protect one of its greatest cultural figures from mob rule. The artist famously told the BBC in 2008, 'They are throwing stones at me for depicting goddesses, but they forget that they are doing it in the name of God.' He died in exile, unable to return without facing arrest. So, India's most famous painter, who symbolized its pluralistic spirit, can only have his
legacy honored abroad. One might wonder, what exactly is being preserved in India itself if its own artists must flee for creative expression? Apparently, national pride now means celebrating art only once it's safely out of reach, in a country willing to protect it. How many 'secular democracies' turn a blind eye when religious zealots erase their own cultural heritage?