M. F. HUSAIN ACCEPTS QATARI CITIZENSHIP
India’s best-known painter, M. F. Husain, who was forced into exile due to death threats from Hindu hardliners, confirmed he had accepted Qatari citizenship in an interview broadcast yesterday, according to the Associated Press.
The ninety-four-year-old Muslim artist told the NDTV news channel that he had no regrets about giving up his Indian passport, saying it was the only way he could continue working.
“At the age of forty, I would have fought them tooth and nail, but I just wanted to concentrate only on my work. I don’t want any disturbances,” he said.
Husain went into self-imposed exile in 2006 in Dubai and Doha when an ultranationalist Hindu group offered a reward of millions of dollars for his death after he painted a revered Hindu goddess in the nude.
He said he was now content to be a nonresident Indian and that he had no qualms about losing his nationality, as India does not allow dual citizenship.
“What’s citizenship? It’s just a piece of paper,” he said, adding in Hindi: “Wherever I find love I will accept it.”
