PANAJI, Aug 11 (IANS): Goa State Museum officials will meet later this week to decide whether artist M F Husain's painting titled "Standing Buddha" should continue to be displayed, after a right-wing Hindu group sought its removal.
Goa Museum director Radha Bhave said that she would be meeting higher officials later this week to decide on whether to continue the display of the oil painting which shows a white bull against a vividly coloured backdrop.
"I will need time to decide on the matter, I will have to take my seniors into confidence. We will meet and take a decision collectively," Bhave told reporters Tuesday.
Earlier Tuesday, in a written representation to the museum authorities, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) convenor Jayesh Thali, while admitting that he had no basic objection to this particular painting, said the outfit was simultaneously working at preventing Husain's art from being displayed publicly throughout India.
"He (Husain) has always hurt the religious feelings and national sentiments of millions of Hindus and Indians earlier. His paintings of Hindu deities and the Bharat Mata in the nude were thoroughly obscene and in bad taste," Thali said, adding that the HJS would be forced to agitate if the painting was not pulled out of public display.
The "Standing Buddha" is one of the several paintings on display at the Panaji based museum, along with other art works by famous artists such as F N Souza, S H Raza and others.
"The painting is undated. It was sourced from Institute Menezes Braganza Trust in Panaji," Bhave added.