Freedom of expression is relative —- it changes in absolute terms from Vadodara M S University’s Fine Arts Faculty to Bhopal’s Bharat Bhavan, both centres of cultural excellence.

Hindu activists in Bhopal today came out overwhelmingly in support of an exhibition of paintings at Bharat Bhavan titled ‘The Face of Terror’, featuring Muslims as terrorists. Such was the vehemence of their call for an artist’s right to express himself that a Muslim organisation’s protest was drowned in the din.

The exhibition by Kailash Tiwari, an artist who wears his saffron affiliation on his brush, opened last evening in the capital.

Ask him about the paintings, and Tiwari, the Madhya Pradesh convener of the right-wing Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan, says: “Why does every dead or captured terrorist happen to be a Muslim?” In the past he has led a campaign against M F Husain for depicting Hindu gods and goddesses in the nude, and drawn a sketch of Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru in blood to protest against his clemency plea.

“What image comes to your mind when you think of terror,” repeats Tiwari, standing next to one of his 20 paintings, all featuring figures easily identifiable as Muslims. “Should I draw terrorists sporting a tilak or a dhoti?”

The district convener of the Bajrang Dal, Vishar Purohit, sees nothing wrong. “Why should anyone object to factual representation? The artist has every right to exercise his freedom of expression,” he reasons, while criticising in the same breath the paintings by M S University student Chandramohan, which landed him in jail. “Every Muslim is not a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Muslim,” Purohit and Tiwari add.

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