Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has voiced her support for her son, artist and photographer Raihan Vadra, after 75 photographs documenting protests in Delhi were removed from his exhibition at the Bikaner House in the national capital.
In a heartfelt message to her son, the Congress leader said, "When someone with power becomes afraid of the expression of another, he doesn’t know it, but he has already lost the very power he is trying to protect."
“You stand for what is true, and everything beautiful will find its way to you. I am proud of you, and I always will be,” she added, signing off with a heart emoji and “Mama."
On his part, Robert Vadra said his son faced considerable pressure to remove the photographs just two hours before his exhibition, titled "No Idea is Final", opened, despite the authorities having received the PDF a week in advance and raising no objections at the time.
He said the authorities had visited the venue, seen the displays and raised no concerns, only for the situation to change a few hours before the opening without any explanation. Vadra said Raihan showed courage by going ahead with the exhibition with the photographs that remained on display.
He further stressed that politics should not be mixed with the creative world, adding that in a democracy, everyone should be allowed to express themselves.
Raihan's solo exhibition was previewed on Wednesday and is scheduled to open on Thursday. The exhibition features more than 100 photographs spanning wildlife, abstract works and street photography documenting the recent protests in the capital city.
The Bikaner House management informed him at 3.30 pm on Wednesday that the photographs had to be removed by 5 pm or the exhibition would be cancelled.
This came despite sharing a detailed proposal and layout with the management well in advance.
In an exclusive interview with India Today, Raihan said on Thursday that a large portion of his collection was deemed objectionable just hours before the exhibition was due to open.
He said he had voluntarily refrained from displaying political placards and banners and initially complied with the objections by turning the photographs around.
However, the administration insisted that the pictures be removed entirely and placed in storage.
“The collection was not protest alone but my three years of work. As an artist, this is heartbreaking,” Raihan said.
He argued that Bikaner House had a responsibility towards art and that exhibitions should not be subjected to changing political preferences.
“It should not be that if the BJP is in power and does not like something, it should be removed, or if the Congress is in power and does not like it, it should be removed,” he added.
On Wednesday night, Raihan shared an Instagram post saying the protest photographs had been deemed “objectionable”. He also said he was asked to remove two photographs of the Tricolour but refused to do so.
Meanwhile, the exhibition is going ahead as scheduled and will continue until Sunday. While around 40 photographs remain on display, more than 70 have been removed, according to a PTI news agency report.
The Bikaner House has not commented on the development.
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