Raihan Vadra said the Bikaner House administration asked him to remove 70 of the 105 photographs in his exhibition, No Idea Is Final, ahead of its opening.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra backed her son, writing, “I am proud of you, always will be,” after the photographs were removed.
Robert Vadra criticised the last-minute intervention, while Congress MP Pawan Khera alleged that the government was suppressing inconvenient truths.
Artist and photographer Raihan Vadra, son of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and businessman Robert Vadra, has said 70 of the 105 photographs in his solo exhibition at Bikaner House in New Delhi were removed after the venue’s administration raised objections ahead of its opening.
The exhibition, titled No Idea Is Final, was scheduled to open on Wednesday evening. Raihan said the photographs documenting recent protests in the national capital were removed after officials objected to their political context. The development drew reactions from his parents and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera.
Priyanka Gandhi Expresses Support
Priyanka Gandhi expressed solidarity with her son in a post on X, saying the incident reflected how those in power could react when confronted with another person’s expression.
“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,” she wrote.
“You stand for what is true and everything beautiful will find its way to you. I am proud of you, always will be,” she added, signing off as “Mama”.
Robert Vadra, Pawan Khera Criticise Removal
Robert Vadra said his son had faced pressure to remove the photographs just two hours before the exhibition opened. He told reporters that the authorities had received the exhibition’s PDF a week earlier and had visited the venue without raising objections.
He described the last-minute intervention as shocking and said politics should not be mixed with the creative world. He also praised his son for proceeding with the exhibition despite the removal of the photographs.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera criticised the development in a post on X, alleging that the government was suppressing work that challenged its narrative.
“Censorship cannot make reality disappear; it only exposes a regime terrified of what people might see,” Khera wrote, congratulating Raihan on his fourth solo exhibition.
Raihan’s Version
Speaking to PTI, Raihan said the Bikaner House management approached him 24 hours before the opening, saying some photographs might be objectionable or against its policy. He said he asked the management to explain its concerns in writing.
At around 12.30 pm on Wednesday, he received a call from the Deputy Resident Commissioner asking him to remove 70 of the 105 photographs, Raihan told PTI. He said he had already set aside images containing overtly political slogans after reviewing the venue’s policy.
According to Raihan, the official said the context of the protests and developments in Delhi made the photographs political. After the images were removed, officials returned to inspect the exhibition and sought the removal of additional photographs.
Raihan also told PTI that the administration objected to two photographs of the Indian Tricolour. He asked officials to put the demand in writing, arguing that he could find no provision in the venue’s policy requiring photographs of the national flag to be removed. He said officials left one photograph in place but removed the other themselves while he was at home preparing for the opening.
“My collection was not protest alone but my three years of work. As an artist, this is heartbreaking,” Raihan said, according to PTI.
