Chennai’s Loyola College is facing backlash after it allowed the exhibition of blatantHinduphobic artwork put in its premises as part of its cultural event Veedi Viruthu Vizha. The college tendered its apology for conducting such an event and hurting the sentiments of the people after the BJP state unit forewarned them of registering a complaint against them.
The exhibits put on display bore derogatory drawings of Hindu religion, PM Narendra Modi, Bharat Mata and Hindu organisations. Many people on social media had condemned the display of controversial artworks that mocked and showed Hindu ideologies and symbols in a derogatory manner.
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The college in its issued apology letter claims that it was saddened by the derogatory nature of the exhibits put on display and have immediately removed them when it was brought to their notice. However, people on Social Media have stated that the apology is just a smokescreen and it is incredulous to believe that the management was unaware of it.
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BJP Tamil Nadu unit chief H Raja has claimed that communists and Naxalites are behind this exhibition. He has asked all Hindu nationalists to file a complaint against the college.
However, one of the professors of the college appeared to brazen it out, claiming that on the issue of #MeToo, the paintings have tried to depict what the children of Bharat Mata had to endure and there’s nothing wrong in it. Even the college management has tried to downplay the controversy by claiming that ‘art should be viewed as art’.
In November 2018, a similar controversy had marred the Department of Tamil at St Joseph’s College, Tiruchi, leading to the indefinite adjournment of a seminar titled ‘Harassment of women as registered in Tamil Literature’, after the Minister for Tamil Culture ‘Ma Foi’ Pandiarajan expressed strong reservations against the organisation of a ‘derogatory and slanderous’ event. The college had invited research works on topics such as ‘Male domination in Ramayana’ and ‘The plight of Surpanakha in Ramayana’ which led to the outrage.