Click to play videoNew Delhi: The first International Indian Art Fair begins this weekend in the Capital, where the spotlight will be on the will be on the Indian Art Summit. The focus will be on Indian art and artists barring MF Husain, whose works will not be showcased.
It's yet another blow to Husain's contribution to the Indian art scene, with a total of 35 participating galleries, and around 400 works on display and not a single work of Husain's displayed.
However, the organisers of the summit say they have had no role in the selection of the art works as that call is taken by participating galleries.
"There is something that we're doing for the collective interest of Indian art and the collective interest of the event per say, so as organisers we don't have any stand for or against the issue," says director, India Art Summit, Sapna Kar.
Husain's works on certain Hindu Gods have caught the ire of right wing activists for the past two and half years, the trigger caused in 2006 by his work Bharatmata.
The issue has now come to a point that none of his works shown across the country are away from protests and attacks. Interestingly, the summit is been given infrastructural support by the Ministry of Culture.
Another reason for not showing Husain's works is that it's always a security threat to visitors,
"The step of caution that should have been taken was that of police protection, which would have prevented people from causing damage - which is not very complicated," says artist Ram Rahman.
Certain activists may have had their way in banning Husain's works by either pressurising the Ministry or the summit organisers, but interestingly the activists have never threatened to pull down public works of his.
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