Muslim woman’s Krishna paintings draw attention

Jasna Saleem, 24, from Koyilandy, is a Muslim with only one passion in life — painting the pictures of Lord Krishna. The burqa-clad woman standing in one of the many stalls arranged at Swapnanagari, the venue of the BJP national council meeting, with a collection of Lord Krishna paintings, was the centre of attraction of the party delegates.

She has never painted anything other than the Lord Krishna portraits and all her attempts to draw something else have failed. She wanted to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi here and gift him one of her best paintings. She explained how she started pursuing this skill seriously. “My son who was seriously ill was denied treatment in a hospital at Thamarassery by a Muslim doctor. The reason he cited was my paintings of Lord Krishna, about which he had come to know,” she said.

She had recently gifted one of her paintings to BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan, which was why she got a chance to be present at the venue.

After meeting leaders like Mr Kummanam, Mr Suresh Gopi, MP, and a few others of the party, she realised that their party was keen on maintaining religious harmony.

“I am not worried if my work would offend anybody in our community,” she said. Some people of her community think that she is not sticking to her religion. “I believe that it is Allah who gave me life and hence I will not abandon my God to go after another,” she said. Jasna has sold nearly 250 paintings in the last 18 months.