M. F. HUSAIN OFFERED SANCTUARY IN QATAR

Indian artist M. F. Husain, under attack from hard-line Hindus for his paintings of nude Hindu goddesses, has been offered Qatari nationality, according to the BBC.

The artist made the announcement in The Hindu, an Indian newspaper. It is not clear whether he will accept the honor. Since 2006, ninety-five-year-old Husain has been living in Dubai and London. The Hindu said that his “impending change of nationality brings to a close one of the sorriest chapters in independent India’s secular history.”

Correspondents say that Husain—who has been forced to flee the country—is one of India’s most preeminent artists. In 2006, he apologized for a painting in which he represented the country as a nude goddess. In the mid-1990s there were huge protests in Mumbai after he painted a whole series of nude Hindu goddesses. Hindu nationalist groups accused the artist of hurting their religious sentiments and defiling their religion.

Husain estimates that there are nine hundred cases against him in various courts of India. He says that he has been harassed by mobs in the country and that his exhibitions have been vandalized. The Hindu_ says that the artist did not apply for Qatari nationality—it was conferred on him by the emirate’s ruling family.