New Delhi:
Raihan Vadra, son of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, has alleged that the management of the Rajasthan government-run Bikaner House in Delhi made him take down most of the photographs in his exhibition ‘No Idea Is Final’, documenting the recent protests in the national capital, hours before the show opened on Wednesday evening. “The photographs were of youth protests in Delhi,” Raihan Vadra said. “Apparently the content is ‘objectionable’,” he wrote on Instagram.
Speaking to NDTV about it, he added, “My idea was to document the movements happening around me in our country. Artistically, my idea was to capture the poetry and rhythm of movements when people come together.”
He was asked to remove 75 of the 105 photographs from the show or face cancellation, he said. These included two featuring the Tiranga (tricolour) or national flag. He initially refused to take those two down, in particular. Bikaner House staff eventually took down one of those two photos when he stepped out of the venue, Raihan told NDTV. In all, 74 photos had to be removed.
Bikaner House authorities did not respond to queries.
The last few weeks have seen extensive protests to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged voter list fraud. Raihan’s mother, Lok Sabha member Priyanka Gandhi, has been a major face of the protests led by her brother, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, while the Cockroach Janta Party and other groups have also been holding demonstrations.
Raihan Vadra has shared photos from the October 11 Congress march to the Supreme Court, for instance, on his Instagram account.
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Asked who told him to remove the photographs and why, Raihan Vadra said he received a written removal request at 3:30 pm, just hours before the show opened. “It was signed by Manoj Singh, the Deputy Resident Commissioner,” he told NDTV. The written request cited non-compliance with the venue’s booking policy, he said. “Before that, I was asked by the Principal Resident Commissioner to remove the works, saying the timing and context were not correct to show these images,” he said.
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Principal Resident Commissioner Rohit Kumar did not respond to queries, nor was any official response issued by Bikaner House, which comes under a BJP-led government at present.
Sources, however, told NDTV that Raihan Vadra was asked to remove some photographs that “could have triggered a political controversy”.
Raihan Vadra further said, “Their policy did not ask me to share the photos for approval. I had sent them a layout on October 15, which they today, for the first time, said they couldn’t see… The layout had the photographs that I had planned to display. I had let them know that I would share a catalogue with them in due course, to which they raised no objections, nor did they specify that the sharing of the catalogue would lead to images being approved or disapproved.” He added that the management had responded to the layout with “noted”.
On whether his family’s political background played a role in the action, Raihan Vadra further told NDTV, “Possibly. But my point is simple: Whether it is me or any other artist, and whatever their background, nobody’s work should be curtailed. Large public spaces have a responsibility to showcase art without curtailing the freedom of expression.”
The Congress blamed the Centre and the state’s ruling party BJP for it. “When even the Tricolour isn’t safe from the censor’s scissors, perhaps the problem isn’t the art. It’s the regime,” party MP and spokesperson Pawan Khera said on X.
“The photographs merely documented protests, and not one was derogatory or inflammatory. So what exactly was the offence? One of the works Raihaan had to ‘fight’ to retain was a photograph of the Indian flag. Otherwise, the walls meant for art were left with nothing but exposed iron nails, gleaming under the spotlights — a chilling metaphor for censorship,” Khera added.
When even the Tricolour isn’t safe from the censor’s scissors, perhaps the problem isn’t the art. It’s the regime. Just hours before @raihanrvadra was to open his art show ‘No Idea Is Final’ 74 artworks – nearly half the exhibition – were taken down for being “political”, by the Bikaner House. The photographs merely documented protests, and not one was derogatory or inflammatory. So what exactly was the offence? One of the works Raihaan had to ‘fight’ to retain was a photograph of the Indian flag. Otherwise, the walls meant for art were left with nothing but exposed iron nails, gleaming under the spotlights – a chilling metaphor for censorship. Imagine a government so threatened by ideas that not just protests, but even photographs of protests – and the Tricolour itself – have become intolerable. The end must be close.
— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 ಪವನ್ ಖೇರಾ (@Pawankhera) October 21, 2026
“Imagine a government so threatened by ideas that not just protests, but even photographs of protests – and the Tricolour itself – have become intolerable. The end must be close,” he further wrote.
The BJP had not yet responded.
On what he planned to do next, Raihan Vadra said, “I plan to display those images elsewhere. I have already shared a good portion of them on my Instagram. Where and when I display them, I am still working out,” he said.
The exhibition is scheduled to run till October 25 at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Bikaner House, from 11 am to 7 pm.
