New Delhi [India], October 22 (ANI): New Delhi [India], October 21 (ANI): Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday sent a subtle message to the government as she backed her son Raihan who had alleged that the management of Bikaner House has asked him to remove certain photos of the Delhi protests, including that of the Tricolour, from his exhibition which is to start today.
In a post on X, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “@raihanrvadra. 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, always will be.”
Earlier, her husband Robert Vadra had also shared the posted by his son which had alleged that the establishment had asked him to removed photographs of the Delhi Protests from his exhibition.
Congress RS MP Pawan Khera also took on the government alleging that it felt threatened by even photographs of the protests in Delhi.
“When even the Tricolour isn’t safe from the censor’s scissors, perhaps the problem isn’t the art. It’s the regime. Just hours before @raihanrvadra was to open his art show ‘No Idea Is Final’ 74 artworks – nearly half the exhibition – were taken down for being “political”, by the Bikaner House. The photographs merely documented protests, and not one was derogatory or inflammatory. So what exactly was the offence? One of the works Raihaan had to ‘fight’ to retain was a photograph of the Indian flag. Otherwise, the walls meant for art were left with nothing but exposed iron nails, gleaming under the spotlights – a chilling metaphor for censorship. Imagine a government so threatened by ideas that not just protests, but even photographs of protests – and the Tricolour itself – have become intolerable,” he said.
Raihan Vadra had on Wednesday alleged that the management of Bikaner House had objected to photographs depicting protests by young people in Delhi and had also instructed him to remove two images featuring the Indian Tricolour.
“Five hours ago, the management of Bikaner House compelled me to remove most of the artworks from my exhibition, ‘No Idea Is Final,’ which is scheduled to open this evening at 7 PM. The images in question depicted protests carried out by young people in Delhi. Evidently, the management found the content of these images ‘objectionable.’ They also instructed me to remove two images featuring the Tricolour,” the statement read.
Raihan said he had refused to remove the images featuring the national flag and that the exhibition would proceed in a limited capacity for the time being.
“I have refused to do so; I will not remove the image of the Indian flag. For now, the exhibition will proceed in a limited capacity, but I will look for an alternative venue where I can display the entire collection of photographs related to the protests,” the post read.
The exhibition, titled ‘No Idea Is Final’, was scheduled to open at 7 pm on Thursday. (ANI)
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