By IANS,
New Delhi: Eminent painter Maqbool Fida Husain, who has accepted Qatari citizenship, says he left India because he needed “all comforts, facilities” and did not want “any disturbance” while working which he found “impossible” in India.
“I think there is a main reason for that (surrendering Indian passport and accepting Qatar citizenship)…I want to focus only on my work…don’t want any disturbance. Need all comforts, facilities to the maximum,” Husain told a TV channel in an interview.
Under attack from sections of the Hindu right, the artist had been shuttling between Dubai and London.
The painter has many lawsuits pending against him across the country for his paintings on goddesses that some radical Hindus find sacrilegious and has been living abroad as a fugitive since 2006.
The 95-year-old painter said he wanted to work on three major projects: History of Indian civilization…from Mohenjedaro to Manmohan Singh; History of other civilization …dating back to Babylon; and 100 years of Indian cinema.
“I wanted to do these projects in India, but there are so many obstacles you know it is not easy to work in India,” Husain told NDTV.
In 2008, one of his works fetched $1.6 million at a Christie’s auction in New York.
He said he could not find a sponsor in India. “I found a sponsor for history of Indian civilization and in Qatar…Sheikha Mozah invited me to do a history of other civilization and the project on Indian cinema…So I have all these works to do,” Husain said.
The artist said he had to become an NRI “because (of) the tax structure there (India.)”
“It’s all over the world… what’s happening to Polanski, Bergmann in the Swedish…he had to leave because he was hounded by tax people,” he said.
However, he said he was at home away from home.
“Hindi hain hum, watan hain saara jahan hamara. These boundaries are only political boundaries. You can be anywhere in the world but the work that you do has a strong link to 5,000 years of our great Indian culture.”
Asked if he believed that the government could have done more for his security, the artists said the government of India was doing its job and “I am doing my job”.
“I don’t deny or question their intentions…But I have to finish three projects and I cannot work in India. It is impossible for me to work in India. There are so many reasons, everyone knows them. If they really look inside their conscience will tell them everything.”
Husain said that “the media is suffering from all the pain and agony, I am not” when he was asked if it was a painful decision to surrender Indian passport.
“I am in an ecstasy for the last 40 years.”
He said that if somebody felt hurt by his art, he regrets it but added “my conscience is clear”.
The artist still feels that “in India there is no serious curb on creative painting”.
“I don’t think it was ever there. Just once there was that attack in Baroda, but what has happened with me is a small thing. We remain a free country.”