Congress Leader Shashi Tharoor Condemns Removal of Protest Photos from Art Exhibition at Bikaner House

NEW DELHI: The removal of photographs depicting SIR-related protests from Raihan Vadra’s solo exhibition at Bikaner House by the venue’s management has snowballed into a political controversy. While the BJP claims that the issue brought to light “a rift between the Gandhi siblings” with no comment from Rahul Gandhi on the matter, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor called it a “global embarrassment” . Visiting the venue on Friday, Tharoor expressed disappointment over the photographs being taken down and said, “Bikaner House is supposed to be a place of art and culture.” He argued that visitors came to appreciate the artist’s perspective rather than engage in political agitation. “To see all those blank, empty walls was really, really sad,” Tharoor said, as the artist gave him a tour of the hall. He added, “I thought, what have we reduced ourselves to?” Tharoor also argued that photographs documenting protests were depictions of events rather than political statements in themselves. He said the episode had raised concerns about freedom of expression and India’s international reputation as a democracy.