BJP Claims Priyanka-Rahul Rift Over Raihan Vadra Exhibition

An art exhibition by the son of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has turned into a political row. The BJP claims it exposes a split between the Gandhi siblings. The Congress says it shows the muzzling of young voices.

The exhibition

Raihan Vadra, an artist and photographer, opened his first solo exhibition, “No Idea Is Final”, at Delhi’s Bikaner House on Wednesday. The show is divided into four sections, “Breathe”, “Move”, “Listen” and “Speak”, and is due to run until October 25. It is scheduled to travel to Bengaluru in December.

Raihan alleges that, hours before the exhibition opened, he was told to remove about 70 of the 105 photographs or face cancellation of the show. One report puts the number removed at 74. Many of the photographs, he says, showed student and youth protests in the capital, including demonstrations involving Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. He also alleges that pictures featuring the national flag were objected to. The show has gone on with the remaining works.

The Congress’s response

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra called the removal of the photographs “ridiculous” and accused the authorities of “muzzling” young voices. Her husband, Robert Vadra, defended their son, saying the organisers had received the exhibition layout in advance but raised objections only shortly before the opening. Congress leader Pawan Khera accused the government of being unwilling to face inconvenient truths.

Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan, a Congress leader, offered to host the exhibition in his state, including the removed photographs.

The BJP’s case

The BJP says the venue’s policy does not allow political content and that the family is being dishonest. BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari shared a notice issued by Bikaner House to Raihan, dated October 21, asking for the removal of certain photographs. He said that Raihan’s original proposal, sent in an email on June 10, described the exhibition as dealing with nature, wildlife, artwork and sculpture, with no political content, and alleged that the political photographs were inserted later “under pressure from his family”.

He then went further, in a post on X: “It is Priyanka vs Rahul in Congress.” He claimed that Priyanka’s aim was to “soft launch” her son in politics by manufacturing a controversy, and that she had “lost political faith in Rahul Gandhi”. He pointed out that Rahul Gandhi, who is in Vietnam and has been posting on other issues, had not posted anything in support of Raihan. In a video message, he also accused Priyanka of “spreading fake news” and told her to stop “telling lies under the cover of the Tricolour”. BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia also said she was trying to launch her son into politics.

These are the BJP’s allegations. I found no evidence of a split in the reports I reviewed, and no response from Rahul Gandhi or the Congress to the “rift” claim. Priyanka has dismissed similar allegations in the past, saying in 2022 that there was conflict in the BJP and not in the Congress.

What is in dispute

The facts that are clear are that a large number of photographs were removed or ordered removed, and that a notice was issued on October 21. What is disputed is why. The venue and the BJP say the policy bars political content and that the proposal did not include any. Raihan and the Congress say the photographs are documentary images of public protests, and that the objection was raised at the last minute. I have not seen the venue’s written policy or its notice, and Bikaner House’s own statement was not available.

The wider picture

The row comes at a moment when student protests, the electoral roll dispute and the detention of activists have dominated the news, and the exhibition’s pictures come from those protests. Politicians from both sides have used it to make larger points, one about freedom of expression and one about the Gandhi family’s succession.

What to watch

Whether Bikaner House publishes its policy and notice, whether Rahul Gandhi comments, and how the remaining days of the exhibition and its Bengaluru leg go.