For some time now, M.F. Husain has been self-exiled in London. escaping the wrath of the Hindu Right^† in India. His painting of the naked 'Ganga-Jamuna' has been added to his list of works that have been offending the sensibilities of devout Hindus in India and the world at large. Word on the ground is that the Hindu Right are currently—and ardently—campaigning to protest and shut down the sale of the 'Ganga-Jamuna' at Christie's Art Gallery in New York on 20 March 2008.

In 2006, using the same intimidating tactics, the Hindu Right was successful in ensuring a shut-down of an exhibition in London at the Asian House Gallery. After receiving death threats, Husain was advised not to return to India and has since remained in London while the discrediting of his art continues apace.

The Shiv Sena, BJP, VHP, and RSS have systematically campaigned to have Husain's work physically damaged in galleries and his exhibitions closed down. It's become quite difficult for galleries to stick out their necks in support of Husain—particularly when galleries are confronted by an unspoken withdrawal of insurance companies.

Ironically, much of India is littered with nude sculptures of gods and goddesses. My visit to South India was a revelation. In the ancient temple of Kanyakumari, numerous life-size Shivas stood proud and naked, carved out of black rock. But modern India has been unable to cope with Shiva's manhood, and each statute was draped in a white cloth (dhoti), hiding the god's majesty.

M.F. Husain's work sells in the range of millions of pounds. He's widely considered to be the Picasso of India, but the systematic hounding of the artist has made him controversial to the extent that his work can't be viewed simply for its artistic merit.

The threats and the campaign by the Hindu Right to halt the Christies sale in March is frightening. Equally frightening is the general power of the Right in influencing government legislation on art offending both religion and believers. In Britain, Muslims, Hindus and Christians have been lobbying for a stronger law on blasphemy. In 2004, extremist Sikhs successfully shut down a play at the Birmingham Rep by the British Asian writer, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, rendering many British Asian artists impotent and, by default, assuring artistic mediocrity.

Husain's tragedy is that he's reviled by Hindus and Muslims alike. Now in his late 90s, he's witnessed the better part of a century. The absence of a balanced audience is a guaranteed death knell for an artist. How should he engage with a world that's angry with him, denying him his homeland? How can he connect with a world hell-bent on exacting bully boy stratagems?

One wonders what Husain would make of the so called 'reformation' of Islam announced by the government of Turkey, earlier this month. Its proposals of reshaping the Hadith—that is, the sayings of the Prophet Mohammed on conduct of Muslims, including elements of Sharia law—has, so far, not elicited any violent reactions. Perhaps that's to come in the implementation process. Or, perhaps, Husain should look to Omar Khayyam, the genius Persian scientist and mathematician forced to write his theories on the Universe as a poem (in order to avoid a charge of blasphemy) and, residually, leaving behind the great work of literature that we know as "The Rubaiyat".