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Assault on ideals
In a civilised society, any dispute on a
controversial depiction or content of a work of art can be dealt with
through dialogue and consultation with experts in the field rather than
left to self-appointed moral police employing coercive means. In the
present case, the outsiders taking law into their hands barged into the
university campus without prior permission and did not consult or inform
the dean of the faculty before disrupting the annual examinations in
progress. The reports are that they returned again to abuse the dean and
threatened him with dire consequences.
Such an instance of assault on a student by outsiders in
the university premises is unprecedented in the history of the faculty of
fine arts and must be condemned in no uncertain terms. The fine arts
college, known nationally and internationally for upholding the highest
standards of creative and critical practice, has also earned a reputation
for its firm commitment to the freedom of expression. Former authorities
of the university like Smt Hansa Mehta, the very first vice chancellor in
the fifties, up to Prof Bhikhu Parekh in the eighties, have stood by the
faculty and its ideals. The present assault seems to strike at the very
ideals on which it was built by pioneering artist-academics and supported
by enlightened university authorities. The present administration of the
university has not initiated any action against the trespassers or applied
for bail for the victimised student. The students and staff of the fine
arts college have organised a dharna and the acting dean, Prof Shivaji
Panikkar, has planned to undertake a hunger strike in the college premises
against the assault on the student and callous attitude of the university
authorities.
As an alumnus and former teacher of the faculty of fine
arts, I fear these developments may imperil the working of an institution
which in many ways has formed our lives; and is indeed an integral part of
what we are today. I hope all other alumni and teachers as well as
concerned artists and intellectuals of the country will come forward to
protect it in its moment of crisis when the values it stands for are
threatened."
Gulammohammed Sheikh
Contemporary artist, alumnus and former professor at the
faculty of fine arts, MS University, Vadodara
May 11, 2007
P.S.: Sheikh subsequently publicly rebutted a statement
attributed to him by the MS University authorities purportedly in support
of its questionable conduct .
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