Youth Protest Photographs by Priyanka Gandhi’s Son Allegedly Removed From Bikaner House Exhibition

New Delhi: A row has broken out in Delhi after Raihan Vadra, the photographer son of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, said that most of the pictures in his debut exhibition were taken down by the venue, Bikaner House, just hours before it was due to open on October 21.

Vadra told The Wire that the venue’s management forced him to remove 75 of his 105 photographs because they were considered political in nature. He said he was told the Rajasthan state government, which runs the heritage building, had weighed in and that a consensus had been reached that no works depicting protests could be displayed.

The exhibition, he said, was based on his own experiences, using life as a starting point to explore ideas of choice, chaos and control, and was the first time he had used his photography as a direct reflection of the current political climate. He said the details of the show had been settled earlier, when his proposal was accepted, and that it was important to him to display the removed images. He added that he had not yet had time to absorb what had happened.

The recent incident shows BJP's intolerance towards protests and freedom of expression in this country.