Another brush with saffron for Hussain

The organisations said that Hussain had shown disrespect to Hindu deities in one of his paintings some years ago and was therefore not worthy of the award.

The painting had then created a major controversy with Hindu organisations coming out strongly against it.

For the past three days, members of various groups, including VHP, Bajrang Dal, ABVP, BJP Anusuchit Jati Morcha, Akhil Bhartiya Jain Sabha, Khandelwal Vaishya Samaj Samiti, had been urging the city administration to prevent the Foundation from giving away the award to Hussain.

However, with the artist not coming to accept the award tomorrow, the matter is likely to die down. Secretary, Mewar Foundation, Trilok Sharma said, ‘‘It is a sponsored protest. We had a meeting with the city administration to ensure no trouble arises tomorrow when the function is held. But now that he is not coming, the matter is most likely to die down. We will not be giving away the award as he will not be present tomorrow. We will decide what is to be done about the award later.’’

ADM (Jaipur City) H.L. Punawat said, ‘‘We are keeping a close watch over the situation. The organisations have told us that they would use peaceful means to stop him (Hussain) from entering the city.’’

This is not the first time that an award presented by the Foundation has attracted opposition in the city. In 2000, members of the city’s Bohra community had protested when Asghar Ali Engineer was being presented with the award.

Other recipients of the award this year include singer Lata Mangeshkar and scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.