00:00Let's turn to the political controversy of the day where an exhibition titled No Idea is Final
00:05has triggered a row at Delhi's Bhikaner house because the man at the center of it is Rehan Vadra,
00:11Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's son, who alleges his photographs, including one featuring the tricolor,
00:17were removed. He claims he was given just 30 minutes to take down 70 of his artworks. The
00:23Congress party has stepped in and alleged censorship. The Bhikaner house, which is run
00:27through the government of India, says the photographs violated its policy against political
00:32artwork. Take a look.
00:40An exhibition titled No Idea is Final, but the photographs on display have triggered a debate
00:46with no easy answers.
00:52Rehan Vadra, Priyanka Gandhi's son, says several photographs from his exhibition at Delhi's
00:58Bhikaner house, including one showing the tricolor, were removed. The exhibits included images of
01:06recent protests in the capital.
01:09In this hall, all the pictures, almost around 70 pictures have been taken down by the management
01:15saying that these pictures are actually political in nature and essentially Rehan Vadra has breached
01:23the booking policy of Bhikaner house management that is to not have any sort of political conversations
01:31via these art exhibitions.
01:34Speaking to India today, Rehan alleged political bias, claiming he was given just 30 minutes
01:41to remove 70 artworks.
01:47They basically did not give any time for me to, you know, have any other option than to leave
01:54the walls empty and then we tried to come up with remedies which were artistic in nature,
02:01which was flipping the photos, putting them in a pile on the floor, leaving the photos of
02:06the flag, but then they kept pushing, kept pushing and kept going overboard. I mean, I wouldn't,
02:10this is not an ideal situation for me.
02:14His mother, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vajra, came out in his support.
02:20His father, businessman Robert Vajra, also took a swipe at the BJP, questioning why a photograph
02:27of the national flag could not be exhibited.
02:31The Congress accused the government of being hostile to young people expressing themselves
02:37throughout.
02:55Bikaner House has defended its decision. It says that photos were inconsistent with its policy
03:02and thus it requested that certain photos be removed. Bikaner House said that the remaining
03:08photos continue to be on display and the exhibition must follow policy.
03:15The Bikaner House guidelines prohibits political artworks and orders the removal of such exhibits
03:21immediately. The policy says that violations may lead to event cancellation.
03:27Bikaner House is administered by the Bikaner House Management Society.
03:31Under the Rajasthan government's General Administration Department. Rajasthan is ruled by the BJP.
03:39The BJP has rejected the Congress's criticism.
04:04Censorship is not new to India. But the Rayan Vajra, Rao, raises uncomfortable questions.
04:11Were the photographs removed for violating rules or because of what they depicted?
04:16And would this controversy be the same if the artist had a different surname?
04:23Bureau Report, India Today.
