Painting at MSU exhibition riles Cong, removed

Around a dozen Vadodara Congress members barged into an exhibition held at the Faculty of Fine Arts, M S University, on Friday demanding removal of a painting, which they alleged distorted a national emblem.

Following the protest led by city unit president Narendra Ravat, the organisers of Hub 5-Pocket Full of Artz removed the painting even as artist Satyajit Balmik maintained that his work had little resemblance to the national emblem.

The organisers, however, defended the work saying the depiction showed no disrespect to India's national emblems and does not have any Ashoka Chakra.

In the painting, 'Indian Bullfight', the artist has replaced the three lion of a national emblem with three goats, standing at the centre of a round abacus, surrounded by bulls that are ready to clash with each other.

"I've painted the game of bull fighting in Indian way, which reflects verbal fighting, or fighting in politics. As an artist, I thought that though bull-fighting is not an Indian game, it can be presented in Indian way," Balmik said, adding that the image was far-removed from the work of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, who was recently arrested for sedition for allegedly depicting a national emblem in bad light, though the charges were later withdrawn.

Ravat said, "There is pride and patriotism associated with our national emblems, and some artists are trying to demean this in the name of Indian bullfighting."

"I requested organisers that the painting should not be put up and they removed it before we came here. We want to convey the message that we take pride in our national emblems, and an Indian citizen should not try to disrespect this," he added.

Though put up at the Exhibition Hall of the fine arts department, the exhibition was organised by a private curator.

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