Following some nudging from the Indian government, a video exhibit on the Gujarat riots has been removed from an on-going exhibition on contemporary Indian art in Beijing.
External affairs ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters here on Tuesday that the approximately four-min-ute long video had “some politically controversial overtones. Our mission had taken it up with the organisers and since then the organisers have removed that exhibit”.
The spokesperson further said that the exhibit was part of the Indian Highway Art exhibition organised by the Serpen-tine Gallery, London and the Astrup Feamley Museum of Modern Art, Norway and was inaugurated by India’s ambassador to China S. Jaishankar last month. The video exhibit is said to carry interviews with people regarding the 2002 Gujarat riots.
With the riots having occurred during the tenure of present Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who was the CM in 2002 too, an agitated BJP was quick to object to the video exhibit.
“The short film on Indian democracy shows India in poor light higlighting the Godhra- related incidents alone and showing that Indian democracy has failed. This is completely objectionable,” declared BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday. She even demanded that the external affairs ministry seek an explanation from Mr Jaishankar.