People who have taken action against HusainNote: We are in the process of updating the website with all the records of people who have taken action. Hence, if you feel that this section will benefit from the actions you have taken regarding the Husain protest campaign, kindly send us the details at protests@sanatan.org Taking legal action against HusainTaking Husain to court - Dr. V. Prasad, Netherlands, 20 Nov 2005. (Read Details) Lodging a complaint with the police (Cyber Crime Cell, Mumbai, India)- Mr. Ramchander, UK, 9-Feb-2006. (Read Details) Giving media coverage to Husain protest campaignTaking up the protest against Husain on popular radio show - Mr. Anil Srivatsa, 26-27 Nov 2005, 17 Dec 2005. (Read Details) Journalist promptly giving coverage to Husain protest campaign - Ms. Smriti Kak, 30-Nov-2005. (Read Details) Taking the protest to various organizationsContacting a leading Hindu organization to take action in Husain protest campaign - Dr. Moharir, USA, 17-Nov-2005. (Read Details) Bringing the protest to the attention of regional and nationwide organizations - Mr. A. Wali, USA, 18-Nov-2005. (Read Details) Encouraging Marathi organizations to take up the protest - Mr. Milind, Virginia, USA, Nov 2005. (Read Details) Taking the Husain protest campaign to community websites - Ms. Sreenivasan, USA, 1-Feb-2006. (Read Details) Spreading awareness via emailSending the Husain protest campaign to various email groups - Mr. Koul, USA, 18-Nov-2005. (Read Details) Gathering over 200 signatures and support from famous people - Mr. Vyas, Bangalore, India, 22-Nov-2005. (Read Details) Sending weekly reminders to sign the petition against Husain - Mr. P. A., USA, 27-Nov-2005. (Read Details) Spreading awareness via blog spotsPromptly taking up the Husain protest campaign on blog site - Vivekajyoti, 18-Nov-2005. (Read Details) Creating a blog for Husain protest campaign - Mr. V. Salkar, India, 27-Feb-2006. (Read Details) Pledging rewards to end denigration Pledging a reward of Indian Rs. 100,001 to anyone who ends this denigration - Mr. S. Patel, Canada, 29-Nov-2005. (Read Details) Writing to the authoritiesPersistently writing to various authorities across the globe and being taken note of on Sonia Gandhi’s website - Sardar Patel (USA_Wale). (Read Details) Writing to the President of India as a personal acquaintance - Mr. Hemant, Canada, 10-Feb-2006. (Read Details) Countering anti protest propagandaCountering a one-sided news article on DNA news website - Mr. A. Mehta, Mumbai, India, 8-Feb-2006. (Read Details)
Taking legal action against HusainTaking Husain to court- Dr. V. Prasad, Netherlands, 20 Nov 2005. “Can you please mail me where these paintings are at present? I would like to have physical evidence. Also, it should be in the public domain. If you can give me these details, I am ready to file a case against M F Hussain.” [Due to Dr. Prasad’s initiative, his brother, who is a high court lawyer in India, and his senior are preparing a representation to the state and central government. After giving the representation, they will go for a PIL. - Editor.] Lodging a complaint with the police (Cyber Crime Cell, Mumbai, India)- Mr. Ramchander, UK, 9-Feb-2006. “To The officer in charge: Sir, The following matter (regarding Husain’s paintings of nude Bharatmata and nude lady in front of baby Krishna being up for bidding in an international public auction) is very serious. This is a great and deliberate insult of all people, who are lovers of Sanatan Dharma. This fellow called Husain, a dirty painter, should be immediatley booked under the law and all the material insulting the Hindus, should be seized and burnt. He should be fined heavily and the money given to the Sanatan Sanstha. If quick action is not taken, I am afraid you will be responsible for allowing the people to take the law into their hands. Please take immediate action. People are impatient. A sufferer.” [Mr. Ramchander has also posted this complaint to the local community email group and sent a letter to the President of India to take action against Husain. - Editor.] Giving media coverage to Husain protest campaignTaking up the protest against Husain on popular radio show- Mr. Anil Srivatsa, 26-27 Nov 2005, 17 Dec 2005. Radio talk show host, Anil Srivatsa has a weekly radio show, ‘Anil ki Awaz’ on the New York based, India Radio channel. Approximately half a million people tune in to this show every month. On the weekend of 26 and 27 Nov 2005, ‘Anil ki Awaz’ discussed the Husain protest campaign launched on www.sanatan.org. On 17-Dec-05 ‘Anil ki Awaz’ interviewed Sanatan Sanstha's seeker, Dr. (Mrs.) Nandini Samant on its weekend Talk Show. The radio show host, Anil Srivatsa discussed various aspects and queries about this campaign with Dr. (Mrs.) Samant. The interview was broadcast from New York at 9.45 PM (Indian time) and from Washington DC at 5.00 PM. Click here to listen to the interview. [Anyone with a connection with media can encourage discussion about this protest on the media, to bring it worldwide coverage. - Editor.] Journalist promptly giving coverage to Husain protest campaign- Ms. Smriti Kak, 30-Nov-2005. Tribune India’s reporter, Ms. Smriti Kak contacted Sanatan Sanstha as soon as she came to know about Sanatan’s protest campaign against Husain, and on 30-Nov-2005, published the following story, covering the protest campaign: Click here to read the news This made Tribune India one of the first renowned newspapers in India to give media coverage to the campaign. Taking the protest to various organizationsContacting a leading Hindu organization to take action in Husain protest campaign- Dr. Moharir, USA, 17-Nov-2005. “To: Sanatan Sanstha Namaskar: I have already contacted Dr. Mihir Meghani of Hindu American Foundation to take appropriate action in US.” Bringing the protest to the attention of regional and nationwide organizations- Mr. A. Wali, USA, 18-Nov-2005. “Please bring this to the attention of KOA USA which is a 1500-strong Kashmiri Overseas Association (KOA). I am going to forward my response to you after this email...” [Mr. Wali brought this protest to the attention of various individuals and organizations such as KOA, Michigan and KOA, USA. He was also interviewed by the Tribune India on his views in protest of Husain’s derogatory paintings. - Editor.] Encouraging Marathi organizations to take up the protest- Mr. Milind, Virginia, USA, Nov 2005. “When I came to know about Sanatan’s protest campaign from a colleague, I forwarded it to all the Marathi community websites that I am familiar with. The protest has now been taken up by a popular Marathi website, Manogat: Click here to read” [This website’s editor took further initiative by putting together an article in Marathi, in support of the protest and has patiently responded to a lot of feedback (readers’ comments and queries about the protest) received on that website. - Editor.] Taking the Husain protest campaign to community websites- Ms. Sreenivasan, USA, 1-Feb-2006. “I have sent the Husain protest campaign petition to us.brahmins group and the del kannada group. I hope, a lot of them will bombard the Indian government’s offices with emails. I will also post it to two other yahoo groups. If I can think of anyway of making these spineless jellyfish get a backbone, I will let you know.” [Ms. Sreenivasan also wrote thought provoking letters to the Maharashtra Governor to cancel the felicitation of Husain and to the President of India in an effort to get the authorities to end this denigration. - Editor.] Spreading awareness via emailSending the Husain protest campaign to various email groups- Mr. Koul, USA, 18-Nov-2005. “Have a look at the (Sanatan Sanstha) web site. If you think this needs to be protested, then sign the petition.” [Mr. Koul sent this email to various individuals and email groups such as the Vichar Naag and Kashmir Forum. - Editor.] Gathering over 200 signatures and support from famous people- Mr. Vyas, Bangalore, India, 22-Nov-2005. On Friday, after receiving the mail regarding Husain protest campaign, I had immediately registered my protest and forwarded the mail to some 15-16 people. Till Sunday evening, I was very disappointed to see from whom all I had forwarded the petition to, only one person had signed the petition. So then I started visiting all the Hindu websites I had seen in the last one year and started collecting the e-mail addresses of webmasters / administrators, who can publicise this information, particularly amongst the people who would be very interested, awakened and inclined to immediately join and help spread the message. I collected about 57 such names and after suitably modifying the message, forwarded it to them. This included:
One of the Hindu right activist responded promptly, saying, "Has this been sent to Hindu Human Rights and Hindu American Foundation?” Famous people that I have sent separate individual messages, requesting to sign the petition and spread the message by way of their writing in websites and magazines are:
Both the people above also write articles in www.rediff.com and I have requested both to use their resources to get the message spread through that site also. I am happy to find that a few of the people from those I contacted, have already signed the petition. By Monday, the number of signatures from US and UK has increased greatly over the weekend. One of the bloggers has already responded very strongly and added this news in his website. Click here to read the news I wish signatures are more compared to the petition which was submitted to President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam for release and fair trial of Kanchi's Shankaryacharya, which had 12971 signatures till date and the responses to appeal by Kanchi-Kamakoti peeth on their protest site were 14264. I feel that already with my effort, at least 50 signatures have been obtained and hope that at least 200 signatures more will come. I would not be surprised if it runs in thousands. Hope I have done my job well. Thanks.” Sending weekly reminders to sign the petition against Husain- Mr. P. A., USA, 27-Nov-2005. “Namaste, I am one of the signatories of the petition against M. F. Husain. I noticed several obscene signatures. Though I can understand the anger, it does not reflect very well on the larger objective of the petition. Please remove them. Some examples: ‘Only a muslim will do **** like this’ ‘hindu, anti muslim’ ‘Some ***** Muslims have no respect at all’ Keep up the great work, I am sending this petition notice to everyone every week till all of them sign it! :-)” Spreading awareness via blog spotsPromptly taking up the Husain protest campaign on blog site- Vivekajyoti, 18-Nov-2005. Vivekajyoti was one of the first blogspots to take up Sanatan Sanstha’s protest campaign against Husain via the following blog published on 18 Nov 2005: Click here for the details Vivekajyoti continues giving coverage to developments in this protest campaign. [We encourage protestors to continue taking this campaign further by taking it up via blogs and other means to spread awareness about and to bring an end to denigration of Dharma. - Editor.] Creating a blog for Husain protest campaign- Mr. V. Salkar, India, 27-Feb-2006. “|| Shri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram || Pranam, I have created a blog for Husain protest campaign: Kindly view it and send me any suggestions, if any mistakes are there. A proud and active Hindu.” Pledging rewards to end denigration Pledging a reward of Indian Rs. 100,001 to anyone who ends this denigration- Mr. S. Patel, Canada, 29-Nov-2005. “I, S. Patel (full name), residing at (full address) pledge all my support for the protest of Husain to any point. If needed, I am ready to come to India and I declare Rs. 100,001 as a reward to whosoever teaches a lesson to Husain. I wish I will do a lot for our Dharma. I am grateful to Sanatan Sanstha for opening my eyes to this issue.” Writing to the authoritiesPersistently writing to various authorities across the globe and being taken note of on Sonia Gandhi’s website- Sardar Patel (USA_Wale). “I have sent letters to the following authorities and media contacts, protesting the abhorrent act of M. F. Husain against the Hindu religion, requesting the authorities to ban the book and to take legal action against the culprit:
My letter was published on the website of Sonia Gandhi on 26-Dec-2005. I know these letters are not perfect, yet hopefully, it should bring the desired result in the long run. I would appreciate it if you will at least write similar letters of protest to the important people in India and abroad, including the President of USA, etc., and to the newspapers, with a copy to me. [This protestor has requested to publish his identity as ‘Sardar Patel (USA_Wale)’. He has been persistently protesting against Husain’s derogatory paintings over the past 3 months, by writing to various authorities, on various occasions, such as Husain’s proposed (and later canceled) felicitation by the Maharashtra Governor. - Editor.] Writing to the President of India as a personal acquaintance- Mr. Hemant, Canada, 10-Feb-2006. “Dear Abdul Kalam: I am at present in Toronto, Canada for last 3 years, and have been meeting you for last almost 10 years during Indian Science Congress session. The reason I am writing to you is that the things that are going on in Maharashtra are not good for humanity, and we, I and many of my friends here in Canada and US, are concerned about it and strongly condemn the activities of Husain. I, on behalf of many Indians and Hindus here, request your intervention in the matter. Please confirm. Bye, and have nice day, Hemant.” [Mr. Hemant wrote this letter during the events of the cancellation of Husain’s Roopdhar felicitation at the hands of the Maharashtra Governor and Husain’s Bharatmata painting being sold deceptively in a public auction. He has not received a response from the President’s office. - Editor.] Countering anti protest propagandaCountering a one-sided news article on DNA news website- Mr. A. Mehta, Mumbai, India, 8-Feb-2006. This is in reference to your article featured on 8-Feb-2006 on page 2. You have just mentioned one side of the story and a general view. Generally, we are not against the right of an artist, to "express" himself. So there is nothing wrong with freedom of expression on a "general" level. However, this is a specific case. In this specific case, what M. F. Husain has done is painted ‘Bharatata’ nude and this painting is ready to be sold for 70-80 lakhs! The motherland (‘Bharat mata’) is revered and is a place where so many Sages have performed Their spiritual practice and freedom fighters have sacrificed their lives for us. We are taught to respect our motherland. Does one shower respect through "nude paintings" in the name of "artistic expression"? Some questions:-
Would MF Husain answer these questions? Man, however great, has limitations. Art is one of the skills man must use to unite people or to reach Divinity (like Tansen did) and not disrespect people / nation. Will the sleeping Indians of our country wake up and voice their opinion? If not then we are a country of pimps, ready to sell our motherland! I would appreciate it if you publish these views. Regards.” |