Chennai: Loyola College, a premier arts and sciences institution long known for academic excellence here, has come under attack in the social media and also from some political parties alleging that the posters and paintings displayed at an art exhibition on the campus over the weekend insulted Hindu gods and Bharat Mata.
The images displayed during Loyola's cultural event, 'Veedhi Virudhu Vizha', hosted by the Student Support Services that lends support to students of Dalit and other vulnerable groups in the institution, were meant to highlight the traditional art forms. But the show ended up causing uproar as several right-wing groups and staunch Hindus, apart from political parties such as the BJP and the PMK, slammed the college and the artists as being anti-national and anti-Hindu.
BJP national secretary H Raja took to twitter on Monday demanding that the government and its police take stringent action against Loyola authorities for portraying Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hinduism in derogatory manner.
He alleged that the "communists, naxalites, Christians and the VCK, who are trying to change people's religion, and other evil forces have come together at the Loyola College and are conspiring against the Hindu religion, and they are launching attack on our nation".
Referring to the cartoons at the Loyola fest that lampooned the PM and showed the oppressed people under brutal attack from the Sangh Parivar, besides the picture of Bharat Mata being 'abused' by a host of MNCs and other elements and crying 'MeToo', BJP's Raja said a complaint has been made to the police.
BJP's state president Dr Tamilisai Sounderarajan too condemned the Loyola exhibition, saying it "insulted Hindu sentiments, RSS, Modi and Bharat Mata." Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan hit out at the Tamil Nadu government saying action had not been taken against the college.
Under attack from different directions, Loyola issued a statement distancing the institution from the offensive portraits and also apologising "for the insurmountable hurt this has caused".
Stating that the Loyola "is an institution of excellence that has cherished the plural values and ethos of the country", it said, "We are deeply pained, saddened and equally anguished that the venue to conduct the cultural event ...has been misused, our illustrious and pluralistic campus was used for derogative exhibits against a particular religious group, social institution, political party and the country's leadership".
The college had "immediately removed the exhibits the moment it was brought to our notice", said the statement from Dr Kaleeswaran, coordinator, Art and Literary Unit.
However, BJP's Raja was not convinced, tweeting again that the college was lying and the show was allowed to go on till its entire term even as objections erupted in the social media and elsewhere.
But then, there were some who supported the show and accused the BJP of arm-twisting Loyola into apologising. The BJP was targeting educational institutions, denying the students their freedom of expression, alleged VCK general secretary D Ravikumar.
DMK spokesman TKS Elangovan, MP, also accused the BJP of trying to muffle the voices of their critics. "This is an infringement of the students' freedom of expression", he said.
