New Delhi | Weighing in on the Raihan Vadra picture exhibition row, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday said the "censorship" has driven "one more nail into the coffin" of India's global reputation as a freedom-loving democracy.
Tharoor slammed the Bikaner House administration's move of not allowing the display of certain pictures taken by photographer-visual artist Raihan Vadra, son of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and businessperson Robert Vadra, calling it a "disgrace" on several levels.
The photographs depicted events that have already been etched in public memory, and many of them would have echoed similar images that people have already seen in the media and online, Tharoor said in a post on X.
"While Bikaner House is free to have a policy against political stands, photographs of a protest demonstration are a depiction of an event and not political in themselves; they would almost certainly have passed muster had the matter been brought to a court as an issue of freedom of expression," the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.
"And worst of all, this censorship has driven one more nail into the coffin of India's global reputation as a freedom-loving democracy," Tharoor said.
The publicity this episode has received will have reached a far larger audience, in Delhi and worldwide, than the exhibition itself might have, had it been allowed to proceed undisturbed, he said.
"I thank heavy-handed officials for giving a well-deserved boost to the photographic talents and career of Raihan Vadra," Tharoor added.
Raihan Vadra said the Bikaner House administration pulled down many of his pictures of the recent Delhi protests ahead of a solo exhibition.
The Bikaner House Society on Thursday said it had sought the removal of certain photographs from Raihan Vadra's exhibition after finding them inconsistent with its policy, adding that the remaining pictures continued to be displayed.
In a statement, the society said it is a public cultural institution dedicated to promoting art and culture, and that exhibitions and associated activities must comply with the Bikaner House Management Society Policy.
In an apparent swipe at the Modi government, Priyanka Gandhi said on Thursday that 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.
In her message to Raihan, Priyanka Gandhi had said, "You stand for what is true, and everything beautiful will find its way to you. I am proud of you, always will be." Priyanka Gandhi had also termed it ridiculous and a "muzzling" of the voice of the youth across the nation.
