Indian Express, 13/09/07
RAJEEV PI
KOCHI, SEPTEMBER 12: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday stayed the Left Government’s move to confer the Raja Ravi Varma Award on artist MF Husain.
This comes a day after a Maharashtra court issued an arrest warrant against the artist for depicting Hindu gods and goddesses in an objectionable way. The court had directed the Kerala Government to have Husain arrested if he turns up to receive its award on September 17.
The Kerala High Court ordered the stay following a PIL moved by a member of the Kochi royal family, contending that the Government had flouted norms in selecting Husain for the award.
The decision to give the award to Husain has been a deviation from past practice. The state Government had originally instituted this annual award in 2001 to honour outstanding Kerala painters and sculptors. The previous awardees were K G Subramanian (2001), M V Devan (2002), A Ramachandran (2003), Vasudevan Naboodiri (2004), Kanayi Kunhiraman (2005) and V S Valiathan (2006).
While staying the award to Husain, the court asked the state Government what criteria it had followed for granting the award meant for Kerala artists.
Almost all pro-Hindutva outfits have been raising a din against the Government’s move to fete Husain. The Kerala Kshetra Samrakshana Samithy had declared it would physically prevent Husain from turning up to receive the award. The Bajrang Dal and the VHP had vowed not to let him get out of any airport he would land in the state. The BJP had condemned it, and even the usually aloof Sangh outfits like Tapasya had slammed it. Protest meetings were being held in different parts of the state over the last week, and some outfits had even called for a statewide ‘Janata Curfew’ on the day the award was to be presented.
The state Government had, however, been going ahead with preparations for the award function. Culture Minister M A Baby had called up Husain in London to assure that he would be fully protected from protesters when he turned up to receive the award.
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