|
Learn To Respect Facts!
Chennai is witnessing several unprecedented happenings.
Something-not-so-good happened on Thursday.
For the first time in living memory, an art exhibitionm in
Chennai had to be closed down, just because a few self-styled
secularists of Chennai objected to what they called the
'communal' trait of a couple of paintings.
Francois Gautier, a Delhi based French
journalist's art exhibition on Aurangazeb was opened on Monday
and it was scheduled to last till Sunday. On Thursday, a handful
of visitors including the Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul
Ali wanted the exhibition to be closed.
The police intervened and forced the
organisers to close down the show. They also took three women to
the Police Station for having ' assisted organising the
Exhibition”.
The police had initially suggested removal of
two paintings depicting demolition of Keshava Rai Temple in
Mathura and that of Somnath temple. The organisers of the
exhibition are believed to have insisted that either it would be
a complete show or no show at all. They believed in the freedom
of expression.
Now, the question is, are we not matured
enough to see art as art and facts as facts? Can we wish history
away? And why should we? Should not the present generation know
about our history? After all what the pictures depicted was
facts drawn from the records of historians. We have read it a
thousand times.
It was organised by a well known French
journalist and he had no personal axe to grind. He wanted to
present History as it is. He has conducted the same exhibition
earlier in Delhi, Pune and Bangalore.
We should learn to respect history. After all
facts do not cease to exist just because they are hidden.
|
