Raihan Vadra’s Protest Photos Pulled Down: Priyanka called is censorship

Pulling down the pictures of recent Delhi protests ahead of a solo exhibition by artist and photographer Raihan Vadra, son of Priyanka Vadra, has come under sharp criticism from Priyanka. She 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.”

The exhibition titled “No Idea is Final”, was previewed on Wednesday and opens on Thursday at Bikaner House in Delhi.

In her message to Raihan, Priyanka Gandhi said, “You stand for what is true, and everything beautiful will find its way to you. I am proud of you, always will be.” She termed the act as “ridiculous and muzzling of the voice of youth across the nation. Today it’s him, tomorrow it’ll be another artist,” she said.

According to Raihan, on Wednesday he was told at 3.30 pm that if the images are not taken down by 5 pm, the show will be cancelled. He claimed that he had shared the detailed proposal and layout of the show well in advance with the Bikaner House management.

It is learnt that a few hours ago, about 74 photographs spread over two large rooms were taken down by the authorities of the Bikaner House

Raihan said none of the images “gave out any political message and only documented the protests over the last six months”. He said, “I felt it is my duty as an Indian artist, not just because I am doing a show right now, but it is my duty as an Indian artist to document what is going on… They are censoring the work of artists; I don’t know what they are scared of. They even went to the extent of removing the picture of the Indian flag,” he added.

When asked the reason for the photographs being removed, Raihan claimed that the Bikaner House administration said “Given the current context and political climate in India, this is not the right time to show those images”.

“So I made the argument that first of all, you can’t say don’t show political art because all art is political. There is no art without politics,” he said.