Communal ideologues forced MF Husain to leave India: Digvijay Singh

Terming as "very unfortunate" Qatar's conferring citizenship on renowned Indian painter M F Husain, Congress leader Digvijay Singh said here today that he (Husain) was forced to accept it due to harassment from people having communal ideology.

"Acceptance of Qatar's citizenship by famous artist like Husain is very unfortunate. It is a big defeat of those people whose ideology is liberal and who believe in communal harmony," Singh told reporters here.

He said that due to constant attack from people with communal ideology, Husain had to live a life of self-exile and finally he was forced to accept Qatar's proposal to become its citizen.

However, the Congress general secretary refuted the charge that the Indian government had failed to give adequate protection to Husain who was facing attacks from saffron activists for making controversial paintings of Hindu Gods and Goddesses.

"There was no problem to the government from Husain but when the heart of an artist breaks up, it takes long time to heal it," Singh said.

Amidst opposition attacks on the hike of petrol and diesel prices, he said that there had been many fold increase in fuel prices during the NDA regime. 

"After presenting a comparative study of it, we will put this fact before the people," the Congress general secretary said.