Couldn't spend much time with brother: Husain's sister

A grieving Zubeida S. Ali, sister of veteran artist MF Husain, today mourned the death of her brother and regretted she could not spend much time together in his last years.

A grieving Zubeida S. Ali, sister of veteran artist MF Husain, on Thursday mourned the death of her brother and regretted she could not spend much time together in his last years.

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"The Indian government didn't let him stay with us for a long time... he didn't get much time to spend with the family," Ali told reporters in a choked voice.

Husain went into self-imposed exile in 2006 after being targeted by Hindu radicals. He died in a London hospital Thursday at the age of 95.

"Even when we were young we couldn't spend much time together because he was in Mumbai while I was back home," she added.

Born in Pandharpur in Maharashtra in 1915, Husain moved to Mumbai at the age of 20 to study art.

Reminiscing times spent with her brother, Ali said: "I had once asked him for a painting for my home and he quickly made one for me - right there at my place. He had also made my portrait."

The artist's death was widely mourned, with the art fraternity calling it an "irreparable loss". Husain was also called the Picasso of India.