Even as the Gandhis continue to make news, the dramatis personae have changed: the main characters are no longer the brother-sister duo, namely Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, both MPs; neither is it the mother-son pairing: read Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. However, the Gandhis remain the centerpiece, so to speak, but it is perhaps for the first time that the grandmother and grandson are in the news at the same time: Sonia because of her forthcoming memoir and Raihan Vadra because of his aborted photo exhibition.
Sonia’s book controversy is not new. But Vadra’s photo exhibition is. Vadra’s controversy is recent, while his grandmother’s in two parts.
The sequence of events is as follows:
The first controversy was over Sonia’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, wherein she has narrated her Greek restaurant meeting with Rajiv Gandhi, who she subsequently married. The memoir unfolds her journey since childhood, her marriage, making India her home and ultimately the tragedies including the death of her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi and later her husband, Rajiv.
More than the memoir, it was the controversy that had grabbed attention once the news that Sonia had written a book was out. The publisher, Penguin Random House India, wanted certain portions of the book to be reworked— something Sonia refused to do.
If reports are anything to go by, the “objectionable portions” were the references to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS and the communal tensions.
Even as the Congress alleged pressure from the powers-to-be, read the Modi government, the publishers denied any such thing.
In a statement issued to put to rest the controversy, the publishers said that several points were raised during the “normal editorial process”, but there was a failure to reach an understanding over a “particular issue”. Sonia then withdrew from going ahead with Penguin Random House.
However, this did not mean that the memoir would not see the light of the day. Gandhi was adamant that she will have the book published and published the way she wanted it. Neither politics nor publishers could deter her.
Once the deal with Penguin was off, Sonia went ahead and signed with Harper Collins. The book is due for release November 10.
Like his grandmother, Raihan too did not give in. If Sonia Gandhi refused to give into pressure, so did Raihan; if she refused to rework or omit passages from her memoir, Raihan too refused to succumb to do the management’s bidding. He refused to remove photographs of the tricolour. And like for Sonia, when HarperCollins dared where Penguin Random House feared to tread, Raihan too has other options: even as Bikaner House shut its doors on the young photographer’s work, Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan threw open the state’s doors for Raihan offering to host his photo exhibition in the state “in its entirety. No exclusions, no exceptions” he tweeted.
It was in October this year that Raihan was scheduled to showcase his photo exhibition at New Delhi’s Bikaner House. The exhibition opened, but was cut short after the management asked him to remove what they saw as objectionable pictures. Of the 100 odd pictures on display, 70 were removed. The show displayed pictures of wildlife, abstract works and images of recent youth movements. They reportedly asked him to remove two photographs of the Indian flag which Raihan said he refused to.
The exhibition, titled “No idea is final”, was a solo show. Stating that photography and that too one that focused on nature and wildlife is his “passion”, Raihan said that he decided to put out his photographs for the world to see. But the management would have none of it.
In an Instagram post, Raihan posted: “The Bikaner House Management forced me to remove the bulk of the artworks displayed. The photos were of the youth protests in Delhi. Apparently, the content is “objectionable”. They also directed me to move two photos of the Tiranga. I have refused. I will not take down a picture of the Indian flag”.
According to Raihan, the management’s objections stemmed from the fact that the protest photos were “political” in nature and hence needed to be removed. The choice given was either remove the photos or face cancellation of the show. Even while the management felt that given the politically surcharged atmosphere in the country, time was not opportune for them to be displayed, Raihan felt that the photos were merely documenting the goings on in recent weeks: “It was my duty as an Indian artist to document what is going on,” he said.
But the story emanating from Bikaner House management was different. They said that the photographs were “found to be inconsistent” with the policy of the venue.
Raihan’s father, Robert Vadra, told the media that hours before the exhibition was to be thrown open, Raihan was asked by the management to remove the majority of the photographs: “three years of my hard work,” Raihan lamented.
Of course the knives are out and the political slugfest begun. His mother, Priyanka fired the first salvo. Slamming the move as “ridiculous”, she said this was an attempt to muzzle the voice of the youth. There was, she added, nothing derogatory towards anyone and the photos were “just a visual documentation of the protest”.
The Bikaner House management, however, did not think so.
But the feud is not between the Vadra and Bikaner House management. The BJP too has jumped in and taken upon itself to either defend or speak for the management. The party went on a tangent stating that Raihan had included political photographs much later. The initial proposal that he had sent had no mention of any political content.
At the political level, the BJP has claimed a rift between Rahul and sister Priyanka on grounds that Rahul has not jumped to his nephew’s defence. BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari went as far as saying that Priyanka was seeking to “soft-launch” her son.
For the record, till the time of going to press, Rahul has not posted anything on the controversy. “Rahul Gandhi, who from Vietnam is tweeting on every issue under the sun, has till now not openly done a single tweet in favour of Raihan Vadra. Its Priyanka vs Rahul in Congress,” Bhandari tweeted.
The last seems to be wishful thinking on Bhandari’s part. For those who have even an inkling of how strong the sibling bond is would never entertain this thought of a rift.
Priyanka has always stayed a step behind her brother and allowed the focus to be on him rather than steal the limelight. And what better proof can there be of strong family ties given the fact that despite repeated demands from a major section of the Congress party that Priyanka should join politics, Priyanka only took the plunge after Rahul was entrenched deep into it, and even after joining active politics, she makes it a point to ensure that she remains a step behind from her brother. Therefore, the BJP could do better than raise a hue and cry over a non-issue.
But more importantly, the BJP needs to check its outbursts and resist from jumping in and defending issues which technically are out of its purview or domain.
In fact, this is a repeat of its past actions because when the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar issue had come up and there were protests demanding his resignation, it was the BJP that was vocal in its defence of Kumar himself.
In the present case also it is the BJP and not the Bikaner House management that is going after Raihan. Questions are, therefore, being asked on why is the BJP jumping in rather than leave it to the management to give its side of the story. Isn’t the management well equipped to fight its own battles? For it to ride piggyback on the BJP only substantiates that the tough stance Bikaner House has taken on the photo exhibition is less a policy decision and more one that stems out of dirty politics.
—The writer is an author, journalist and political commentator
The post The Grandmother, the Grandson and the Politics of Dissent appeared first on India Legal.