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‘Attempt to soft launch son’: BJP claims Raihan Vadra was made to add political artwork before his exhibit
Pradeep Bhandari said that Raihan Vadra was made to include political artwork under the pressure of his family for a political launch.
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday claimed that the artwork supposed to be presented by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi's son Raihan didn't include any political content when it was sent for approval to the Bikaner House in June.
The party also accused Priyanka Gandhi of “manufacturing a controversy” by forcing her son to include political artwork in his exhibition to “soft launch” him into politics.
BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari alleged that the House approved Raihan's exhibit as his proposal declared that his exhibition would contain themes of nature, wildlife, artwork and sculpture.
He said Raihan was made to include political content to his artwork later.
“Under pressure of his family for a political launch, the political photographs were inserted later on to which Bikaner House reverted asking for removal on 21st October 2026! Priyanka Vadra's entire attempt was to soft launch her son by manufacturing a controversy. She has lost political faith in Rahul Gandhi!,” Bhandari said in a tweet.
He also attached purported screenshots of an exchange between Raihan and the Bikaner House. There was no reaction from Congress on these claims until the time of writing this report.
Bhandari claimed that Raihan was aware of the booking guidelines, which is why there were no political images in his original exhibition.
"Under pressure from his family for a political launch, the political photographs were inserted later on to which Bikaner House reverted asking for removal on 21st October 2026,” he added.
‘Its Priyanka vs Rahul’
Bhandari also said that Priyanka Gandhi had “lost all faith” in his brother and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. He added that Rahul has not spoken openly in favour of Raihan Vadra.
“Priyanka Vadra's entire attempt was to soft launch her son by manufacturing a controversy. She has lost political faith in Rahul Gandhi! Rahul Gandhi who from Vietnam is tweeting on every issue under the son, has till now not openly done a single tweet in favor of Rehan Vadra. Its Priyanka vs Rahul in Congress!," Bhandari wrote.
Some pictures removed from exhibit: Raihan
Raihan Rajiv Vadra on Wednesday alleged that the management of Bikaner House in New Delhi asked him to remove 50 percent of his artworks depicting student-led protests in the capital.
In a social media post, Vadra said the management had reportedly objected to the content of the photographs. He further alleged that the management directed him to remove two photographs featuring the Indian national flag, or the Tiranga. However, the artist said he had refused to comply with the instruction.
Vadra added that the proposal approved by the Bikaner House management on June 30, 2026, clearly stated the exhibition would feature images depicting “themes of choice, control, and unity”.
“The photos are simply a visual documentation of the people and the armed forces at the protests with no added commentary. Not a single photograph taken by me contains any derogatory or inflammatory comment of any kind,” he said.
