‘Those who targeted Husain targeted the rich soul of India’

I met him as I met many others: when he was in difficulty. He was worried that a section of Indian society was targeting him for reasons he could not understand. As a painter he had evolved. His works of yesteryears became the subject of controversy. Though he had moved on,those who attacked him,wanted to bind him to the past.

I fought almost all of his legal battles while I was a lawyer. I could sense his unease at having to cope with the vicious assaults on his free spirit. He was loath to be questioned about the freedom reflected in the stroke of his brush. He painted with ease and his art is witness to the expanse of his vision from Indian mythology to Mother Teresa. His paintings of Indira Gandhi as Durga reflected his deep understanding of contemporary events.

He could never understand why he was being targeted. That is perhaps the reason why he left India. He realized that in the environment in which he was caught,the right to think freely and the right to move freely would be in jeopardy. I also met him in Dubai where I persuaded him to come back. He was unsure of the reception he would get if and when he returned home.

The one unique feature of his paintings was his ability to depict and inject them with both energy and beauty. There is nothing ugly about his paintings. Look at his canvas and you are transported to another world of festivity and colour,a world in celebration not in dismay. He was an artist who generated hope. Ironically,the later part of his journey when he was questioned at home was filled with dismay.

I do not know of any artist in the Indian firmament who painted with the kind of flair that he had. One could watch the frenetic pace of his brush,as he stroked the canvas. He was fully absorbed as he painted,almost in a hurry to paint what was etched in his mind. The blank canvas when completed with resplendent colours had a story to tell. He was a master story-teller through his paintings. Those who targeted him should reflect that,perhaps in attacking him,they were targeting the soul of India: rich,diverse,egalitarian and secular.

(Sibal is Union Minister of Human Resource Development and Minister of Communications and Information Technology)