An overzealous, rather intrusive visual media hounded Shashi Tharoor, MP, out of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale at Aspinwall House on Saturday. Mr. Tharoor, who is under a cloud after a case of murder was registered by the Delhi Police last week into his spouse Sunanda Pushkar’s death, was originally slated to give a talk at the biennale on ‘Art and Culture in Contemporary India: Is Public Private Partnership the Way?’
The talk was called off in the wake of the developments, but an army of media persons waited for Mr. Tharoor at Aspinwall House, the main venue of the biennale.
However, he chose to head straight for a guided tour through the art installations led by biennale director Bose Krishnamachari and director of programmes Riyas Komu. He just finished viewing a quarter of the exhibits at Aspinwall House when the media frenzy reached a crescendo, which forced him to speak, on the biennale that is.
Biennale supporter
An ardent supporter of the biennale from the maiden edition, Mr. Tharoor said a public-private partnership model should emerge to make funding for cultural events like the biennale easier.
He said the biennale ran on “modest government support and some generous artistic support.
