Chennai's Loyola College sorry for Bharatmata 'art'

Hours after BJP and other right-wing groups sought immediate legal action against Loyola College for "derogative exhibition against a particular religious group, political party and the country's leadership", the Chennai college issued an apology on Monday.

As part of a two-day folk festival titled "Veethi Virudhu Vizha" (Street Award Festival), organised at Loyola College on January 19-20, an exhibition of paintings on various social issues like sexual violence, caste violence and murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh were exhibited. However, a few of the artwork on display — the depiction of Bharat Mata as a victim of the Me Too movement and the painting of Prime Minister Modi created a furore among the right-wing groups.

BJP leader H Raja took to Twitter on Monday demanding action against the "Christian" college authorities. "At Chennai's Loyola 'Christian' College, VCK, Communists, Naxalites and antisocial elements trying to convert people to Christianity have come together and are conspiring against Hindu religion and they are launching an attack against the nation. A complaint has been filed with the police regarding this," he wrote.

Meanwhile, Loyola College apologised for the insurmountable hurt the exhibition has caused. In a statement, Dr Kaleeswaran, coordinator, Art and Literary Unit said, "We are deeply pained and equally anguished that...our illustrious and pluralistic campus was used for derogative exhibits against a particular religious group, social institution."