Who is Raihan Vadra? Why Priyanka Gandhi's son was asked to remove 70 of 105 Delhi protest photos in solo exhibition

Congress President Priyanka Gandhi’s son Raihan Vadra said on Thursday (October 22) that he has been asked to remove 70 out of 105 photographs of himself from his solo exhibition held at Delhi’s Bikaner House. He said he was only asked to take them off a day before the show started.

The incident drew a reaction from several opposition political leaders who attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Center for setting a “clear example of censorship”.

Who is Raihan Vadra? What is this dispute? What did these pictures show? Here’s everything you need to know:

Who is Raihan Vadra?

Raihan Vadra is the son of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Robert Vadra. He is an artist and photographer.

But why were Raihan’s photos removed? Priyanka Gandhi’s son explains

Raihan Vadra hit the headlines on Wednesday when reports claimed he was forced to remove more than half of the photographs that were to be included in his solo exhibition organized at the Rajasthan government’s Bikaner House in Delhi.

Raihan Vadra shared a detailed account of the incident in an interview with news agency PTI on Thursday.

He said the Bikaner House administration had withdrawn many of his pictures from the recent protests in Delhi ahead of a solo exhibition. His show was titled ‘No Idea Is Final’, the poster of which was shared by Priyanka Gandhi on X on Wednesday.

Raihan claimed he was told by authorities that some of his images “might be objectionable or against their policy”.

“My show, ‘No Idea Is Final’, was scheduled to start yesterday at 7 pm (Wednesday, October 21) at Bikaner House. Twenty-four hours before the opening, I was approached by the management of Bikaner House and told that some of the images may be objectionable or against their policy,” Vadra said.

“I said I didn’t believe that but I was happy to discuss it and I asked them to get back to me in writing and explain what the concerns were…,” he added.

“Then around 12.30 pm, the Deputy Resident Commissioner called us saying that I have to remove 70 of the 105 photographs in the exhibition as they were allegedly against politics…,” Raihan told PTI.

What did these photos of Raihan show?

Priyanka Gandhi’s son said that after reviewing their policies, he “separated” the images that contained “obviously political slogans…”

He said these are street photographs of youth movements in Delhi over the past year.

Raihan said, “There was no naras in any of the pictures; maybe there were some pictures with political flags and a few pictures with political leaders — that was where I liked to have the discussion.”

“I didn’t hear back from them until the next day (Wednesday, when the show was supposed to open),” he said.

Next, the Deputy Resident Commissioner told Raihan that he had to remove all the images “which were street photographs of youth movements in Delhi in the last one year”.

Raihan said he was told a similar thing by the Chief Resident Commissioner. He also said that “the context of the protests and everything happening in Delhi was what made the artwork political and that I had to remove the photographs”.

“As soon as we removed them, the officials came back to inspect the exhibition and said that the arrangement was still not working. They emailed me that I had to remove some other photos as well. So I took them down and they told me to put them aside…,” added Raihan.

“They sent me a notice at 3.30 pm that if you don’t remove it by 5 pm, the building is sealed and the exhibition is cancelled,” Raihan told ANI.

“They have been asked to remove images with the Indian flag as well”

Raihan said he was even told to remove pictures of the Indian flag.

“Then (officials) came back and said I have to remove two photos of the Indian flag as well. I said, ‘But they’re just pictures of the Indian flag. I don’t think there’s anything in your policy that says photos of the Indian flag have to be removed,'” he said.

“At that point, I firmly told them to put their demand in writing if they want me to remove the photos of the Indian flag,” Raihan said.

He claimed that the officials did not send him anything in writing. “They left one photo in place, but while I was at home changing for the opening, they themselves removed the second photo of the Indian flag. I have a video of them doing it,” he added.

There is no official word yet from Bikaner House on this controversy.

“A Chilling Metaphor for Censorship”

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra came on X to show her support for her son Raihan. Taking a dig at the CJP government, she said, “When someone in power is afraid of the expression of another, he doesn’t know it, but he has already lost the power he is trying to protect.”

“You stand up for what’s true and everything beautiful finds its way to you. I’m proud of you, I always will be,” Vadra wrote on X.

Meanwhile, Raihan’s father Robert Vadra he said: “There was a lot of pressure on him to remove everything and that happened just two hours before his exhibition opened.”

“…I think he had enough courage to continue the exhibition using whatever was left. Like I said, I’m proud of him,” added Robert Vadra.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Pawan Khera described the incident as a “chilling metaphor for censorship”.

“One of the works that Raihaan had to ‘fight’ to keep was a photograph of the Indian flag. Otherwise, the walls meant for art were left with nothing but exposed iron nails that glistened under the spotlights – a chilling metaphor for censorship,” said Khera.

Former Chief Minister of Rajasthan and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot also took aim at the BJP and said, “This means that under the watch of the BJP government, the artistic expression of a young artist has been suppressed, which is highly condemnable.”

“Suppressing the voices of artists is a direct attack on democracy. This is a clear example of censorship. The BJP government must answer why the photos depicting the truth were removed,” Gehlot wrote on X.