Indian artists take stand against the extreme right wing

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More than 300 Indian artists have already signed a petition condemning the increasing violence of extreme right-wing groups against minorities in the country. The website Scroll.in first announced the act of protest.
HAPPENING
Woman at work (1958) by Maqbool Fida Husain. 
(via Flickr & Wikimedia Commons)


The petition is aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has remained mute in the face of recent recurrent violence that various minority groups have suffered. The petition text reminds its readers of those inflicted upon Maqbool Fida Husain (1915-2011) in the early 90s at the hands of Nationalist Hindus who believed his work from the 1970s to “promote hostility between religions”. The pieces depicted the Hindu goddesses Durga and Saravasti. The painter ended up leaving his country to live between Dubai and London. The petition declares: “A government that does not tolerate difference, that does not safeguard the lives and interests of its marginalized and vulnerable citizens, loses its legitimacy in a democratic polity. We are facing this situation now, already.” Included among names of the artists, critics, historians and authors, are  Sudarshan Shetty, Subodh Gupta, Bharti Kher, Atul Dodiya, Anish Kapoor, Mithu Shen, Anita Dube, Chitra Ganesh and Jitish Kallat.
The full petition can be found here.