Drawing parallels between the controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie and the "pain and anguish" his father went through,late painter M F Husain's artist-son Shamshad today said the protests against the author were "awful" and initiated by some "unscrupulous elements" who knew nothing about art or literature. Shamshad,himself a painter,said everyone in the country had the freedom of speech and expression and "no one can take that away just because some groups claim their sentiments were hurt". Describing the cancellation of a video address by 'The Satanic Verses' writer at the Jaipur Literature Festival as "terrible",Shamshad told,"Whatever is happening to Salman is awful. I'm sure the unscrupulous elements behind the protest know little about art or literature. They are protesting just for the sake of it." "What I don't understand is why do people protest years after the work was actually done. Even in my father's case protests over his painting erupted 20 years after he did his work. The same thing is happening to Salman," he said. Husain had been on a self-imposed exile from 2006 till his death in 2011 after he earned the wrath of right-wing Hindu groups,which accused him of "hurting sentiments of people" because of his nude portraits of Hindu gods and goddesses.
