The News Minute| August 25, 2014| 9.00 am ISTFew weeks ago, as political parties in Chennai were protesting against a derogatory cartoon of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and PM Narendra Modi on the Sri Lankan defense website, an artist known to constantly court controversies did a stunt.Chennai-based karate expert Shihan Hussaini skinned a pig, collected blood from the animal and drew the Sri Lankan president's face with the blood. He said this was the painting of not Rajapakse but Raja’pig’se.Hussaini’s stunt has angered animal rights activists in the state who have started an online petition urging the state government to take action against Hussaini. A 10-member Animal Welfare group protested outside the karate teacher’s house yesterday.Initiated by Indian Center for Animal Rights and Education, the petition is pushing for action against the karate master for inflicting cruelty on a pig; by skinning a live pig and videographing it. The Animal Welfare Board of India felt that there was nothing wrong in staging a protest, but not at the cost of animal welfare.“It’s a misplaced notion. I didn’t touch, kill or skin any pig alive,” said Shihan Hussaini. “Tamil Nadu doesn’t allow pig slaughter. So I went all the way to a Karnataka suburb and bought the blood for Rs. 400, “he said. Agreeing that he should be punished if culpable, he felt that there were no grounds for any action against him. “The police had an enquiry on the same day I drew the painting. I use blood as a medium for all my paintings,” he claimed. Stating that an apology was insufficient, he urged President Rajapaksa to identify the person responsible for putting up a controversial article depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and TN CM J Jayalalithaa on an official website of Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence and Urban Development.