<p>The 95-year-old painter has accepted the offer and it is under process, Husain's son Owais Husain said here today.<br /><br />He said the Qatari nationality was not something he asked for, but it is the truth now. "I respect his individual decision because somewhere as a son you have witnessed a range of emotions he is going through."<br /><br />He also said that his father was in Doha currently and would return to Dubai next month.<br />"He (Husain) got a lot of calls, some provocative ones at that, but he didn't succumb to it and that goes to show his resilience at the age of 95.<br /><br />"After all he is older than independent India," Owais said, noting that Husain was born in "one of the most holy places (Pandharpur -- a pilgrimage site) of Maharashtra."<br />However, he said one cannot take away the Indianness that defined his father. "You can take a man out of the country but you cannot take the country out of the man."<br />Owais, who is also working on a documentary on the life of Husain, said his father has been extremely prolific as a painter in the past few years. <br /><br />"Since he (Husain) is not a man of words but a man of images, he has poured it all out on the canvas. He has painted the Ramayana, he has painted on India and a whole lot of series in the past few years he has been away from India.<br />"He has travelled to a lot of places but he has a thing about painting a series of 100 paintings on the history of India. He is working like never before and he just wants to work," Owais said.<br /><br />Husain, who shuttles between Dubai and London, went in exile after a hate campaign was launched against him in 2006 over his controversial paintings.<br />Several cases were filed against him by people protesting his portrayal of Hindu goddesses in the nude. His house in India was attacked and art works vandalised by fundamentalists.<br /><br />Husain's son, however, refused to comment on statements from India yesterday that he was welcome to come back.<br />"I don't know much about those comments. He is the best person to answer that question," Owais said.<br /><br />The Indian government yesterday described Husain as the "pride of India" and said it was willing to provide security to him.<br />"There is no case against M F Husain. Supreme Court has quashed all the cases against him," Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said in New Delhi.<br />He said the government was ready to provide security to the artist, if he planned to return to India.<br />"He (Husain) is the pride of India," Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said adding, "I would like him to feel safe and secure in India".</p>
<p>The 95-year-old painter has accepted the offer and it is under process, Husain's son Owais Husain said here today.<br /><br />He said the Qatari nationality was not something he asked for, but it is the truth now. "I respect his individual decision because somewhere as a son you have witnessed a range of emotions he is going through."<br /><br />He also said that his father was in Doha currently and would return to Dubai next month.<br />"He (Husain) got a lot of calls, some provocative ones at that, but he didn't succumb to it and that goes to show his resilience at the age of 95.<br /><br />"After all he is older than independent India," Owais said, noting that Husain was born in "one of the most holy places (Pandharpur -- a pilgrimage site) of Maharashtra."<br />However, he said one cannot take away the Indianness that defined his father. "You can take a man out of the country but you cannot take the country out of the man."<br />Owais, who is also working on a documentary on the life of Husain, said his father has been extremely prolific as a painter in the past few years. <br /><br />"Since he (Husain) is not a man of words but a man of images, he has poured it all out on the canvas. He has painted the Ramayana, he has painted on India and a whole lot of series in the past few years he has been away from India.<br />"He has travelled to a lot of places but he has a thing about painting a series of 100 paintings on the history of India. He is working like never before and he just wants to work," Owais said.<br /><br />Husain, who shuttles between Dubai and London, went in exile after a hate campaign was launched against him in 2006 over his controversial paintings.<br />Several cases were filed against him by people protesting his portrayal of Hindu goddesses in the nude. His house in India was attacked and art works vandalised by fundamentalists.<br /><br />Husain's son, however, refused to comment on statements from India yesterday that he was welcome to come back.<br />"I don't know much about those comments. He is the best person to answer that question," Owais said.<br /><br />The Indian government yesterday described Husain as the "pride of India" and said it was willing to provide security to him.<br />"There is no case against M F Husain. Supreme Court has quashed all the cases against him," Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said in New Delhi.<br />He said the government was ready to provide security to the artist, if he planned to return to India.<br />"He (Husain) is the pride of India," Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said adding, "I would like him to feel safe and secure in India".</p>
