I came to know about Shashi Tharoor when he was in news in relation to the election of UN Secretary General. Similarly, I came to know about M F Husain when he painted Hindu Goddesses in nude. After that I have seen Shashi Tharoor’s articles in Times of India. Today I saw his article on Husain - ‘It is time to stop harassing M F Husain’. This is the second article he has written on Husain. He seems to be hurt on the hurt caused by some people to Husain. This time he has used the word harassment. I am a Hindu and Husain is a Muslim. I am clear about the practices of Hinduism. I am sure Husain is clear about the practices of Islam. So, let us not bring religion into it. I will like to relate with Husain as one human being to another. Husain is a painter. He creates work of art. In my opinion, if a work of art hurts someone then it is not a work of art. It becomes a tool of violence to hurt others.
I also do not wish to go into arguments of freedom of expression and all that. I leave it to Husain to decide. He is a painter and a good painter is a good human being. He should be able to feel the hurt of others. If he is not able to feel it then he is not a good painter.
Shashi Tharoor is trying to justify the hurt caused by Husain to others, but he is not feeling the hurt of others caused by Husain to others, and that is where the problem lies. Arguments, counter arguments will not stop what he termed as harassment. It will be stopped only by understanding and respecting each others’ feelings, and initiative for that should come from Husain, as it is his work of art which has created the problem.
