Last week, The Wire published a prefatory statement by well-known artist and sculptor Anish Kapoor to an interview he gave India Today and which the magazine would not carry. Having asked for his views on the current political and social situation in India, the reporter conveyed that his editor had told him Kapoor’s answer could not be accommodated unaltered – as the artist had insisted.
On July 23, we received an email from the India Today group with a rejoinder from the magazine’s editor, which we are producing in full:
“It is unfortunate that Anish Kapoor, an artist we at India Today magazine respect, and whose work we have featured on several occasions, has levelled unfounded allegations against our publication and its principles on The Wire.
Contrary to what Kapoor has alleged, we at India Today magazine did not ask him to change the content of his answers but to shorten them as he deemed fit to adhere to the word limit of our Leisure section where it was to appear.
We would like to clarify that at no point did India Today say that we would not publish the interview unless Kapoor “removed or radically toned down” (as he puts it) his answer to the question on Indian society and politics today.
Our concerns arose only from space constraints apart from his somewhat high-handed ultimatum demanding that the unwieldy sermon be carried in its entirety while threatening us with consequences if we did not comply.
This is something Kapoor has followed through on, in an apparent fit of pique, projecting himself as a figure at the barricades of political resistance in this country. It is also regrettable that the online portal on which his accusations appeared did not reach out to us for our views before publishing his assertions.
Raj Chengappa,
Group Editorial Director (Publications),
India Today”
§
Anish Kapoor responds:
Yes, dear Raj Chengappa, I stand unashamedly with thousands – no, millions – of fellow Indians of all faiths and political perspectives “at the barricades of political resistance“ against the hegemony that is terrorising our country. I ask you: Does your journal sit on the sidelines or does it dare to make a commitment to change and to forward thinking?
As for your inaccurate account of my exchange with your journal, I have clear email exchanges with your correspondent in which I was expressly asked to drop my political discourse even though this was a question put to me by your journalist.
Your excuses re: space etc are a pathetic smoke screen. We are engaged in a struggle for the soul of our beloved country. I call on India Today to boldly play its role and to not evade its vital responsibility out of fear.
Anish Kapoor