HELSINKI Finland Prime Minister’s office has forwarded the Hindu leaders’ request for removal of “disrespectful” nude man’s picture from Helsinki museum exhibition to its National Board of Antiquities “for further possible actions”.

Sanna Rauhansalo, Special Advisor to Finland Prime Minister, in a communiqué to Hindu leaders, said, “Thank you very much for your e-mail and that you brought this matter to our attention. We have now forwarded it to the National Board of Antiquities and Historical Monuments for information and for further possible actions.”

The National Board of Antiquities of Finland, under Ministry of Education, preserves Finland’s material cultural heritage, which includes protection of “cultural-historically valuable environments”. It was launched in its present form in 1972 with history going back to 1666.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who spearheaded this protest, and his supporters, besides immediate removal of the controversial photograph which they say denigrates Hinduism, are also asking for public apology from Finland Education Minister Henna Virkkunen, Director General of the Finnish National Gallery Risto Ruohonen, Kiasma Director Brendt Arell, and award winning artist Marita Liulia. Zed thanked the Finland Prime Minister office for action on their request.

Meanwhile, a Hindu leader Dharam Loonaa, in a communiqué, has urged Archbishop Jukka Paarma of Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF), which claims over 80 percent of Finns as its members, to intervene and use his influence to seek the removal of this photograph denigrating to Hinduism from this exhibition, saying that it is the responsibility of the majority ELCF to protect its minority Hinduism.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, points out that Hindus are for freedom of expression as much as anybody else if not more. Hindu tradition encourages peaceful debates, won on their intellectual merit. But faith is something sacred and attempts at belittling it hurt the devotees.

Controversial photograph “Hinduism: The Night of Pushkar 2” is on display till April 19 as part of Liulia’s “Choosing My Religion” multimedia exhibition at internationally renowned Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, in which her 72 art pieces juxtapose Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto, and Animism. This exhibition will later travel to Tampere, Turku and Vaasa cities in Finland. This concerned photograph shows a nude man with visible genitals apparently as a depiction of Hinduism and sacred city of Pushkar. Kiasma is a unit of Finnish National Gallery, a public body under Finland Ministry of Education.

Besides Rajan Zed, other Hindu leaders and organizations that supported this protest, include Jawahar L. Khurana, Chairperson of Hindu Alliance of India; Vamsi Krishna of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti; Bhavna Shinde of Forum for Hindu Awakening; etc. Zed has described this photograph display as “very disrespectful, hurting and irreverent”.