NEW DELHI—Vandals claiming to be members of a group called Shri Ram Sena attacked an exhibition of prints by Indian artist Maqbool Fida Husain at Vithal Bhai Patel House yesterday, the Hindu reports. The exhibition was organized by the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) as a protest against Husain's exclusion from this weekend's India Art Summit, the country's first major fair of modern and contemporary art.

Around 3:30 p.m., some 10 people arrived at the exhibition and began throwing chairs and smashing prints and photographs in frames as well as overturning a television showing a film by the artist. Nine works were damaged in total. The attackers also shouted anti-Husain slogans and threw pamphlets with threats. A SAHMAT member at the scene, Santosh Sharma, said: "They did not attack us. Before help could arrive, they ran away like cowards."

M. F. Husain, one of India's best known artists, has been targeted in the past by Hindu vigilantes because of his controversial paintings depicting Hindu gods naked. A slew of court cases were brought against him beginning in the late 1990s, and extremists attacked his house, vandalized his works, and issued death threats. He went into self-imposed exile in 2006 and now splits his time between Dubai and London.

Organizers of the India Art Summit announced about a week ago that they would exclude Husain from the event. "It was a collective decision taken because of certain outside influences and due to collective security concerns," said Neha Kirpal, associate director of the summit, according to ExpressIndia.com.

In response to the decision, SAHMAT organized an exhibition of Husain's work to coincide with the summit. The group also issued a statement criticizing the summit's organizers for giving into extremist political groups. "It is the duty of the state and the police to protect our institutions and citizens against the threats of violence. Surely the authorities and the Delhi police are capable of confronting any such threat," said Ashok Kumari of SAHMAT, speaking to SouthAsiaNews.com.

Another SAHMAT member, Ram Rahman, told the Hindu that the deputy commissioner of police for New Delhi had been informed about the Husain exhibit but that no security was provided.

Some art galleries taking part in the summit apparently also showed their solidarity with the missing artist this weekend by defiantly displaying pictures of him or his work in their booths.

Husain "has been single-handedly responsible for putting Indian art on the world map and equally responsible for creating the world boom in India art," said Kumari, "without which such a summit would not be taking place in Delhi."