Intellectuals and artists on Friday unequivocally condemned the attack on an exhibition of renowned painter M F Husain [Images], lashing out at moral policing and intolerance towards work of arts.

"It is blatant intolerance and disgusting fanaticism," Soli J Sorabjee, former Attorney General and an art lover, told PTI after taking a round of the exhibition -- India in the Era of Mughals -- which ended in New Delhi on Friday.

Artist Shubra Das said that no one has the right to dictate terms to the public as to what they should watch.

Lashing out at Shiv Sena activists who attacked the exhibition, she said, "No moral guardian or religious fundamentalists should have the right to decide what the public should see. Perhaps the biggest tragedy of living in a democracy is curbing an artist's freedom."

Artist Puneet Kaushik feels that the attack on Husain stems from a lack of understanding about India's ancient culture of which erotica is a major part.

"It is unfortunate that an artist of Husain's stature, who has taken Indian art to a global arena, is being targeted because of this ignorance," Kaushik added.

"Vandalising any work of art is not appreciable. It can never be a form of protest. These paintings were not of objectionable nature, they are carrying a kind of blanket protest," said Alka Raghuvansi, an art curator.

"It is the height of stupidity. Nobody is objecting to Khajuraho where male and female images had been carved nude. This is the narrow communal attitude of fundamentalists," fumed a visitor.