Jamia alumnus brings out coffee table book

New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI):
A Jamia Millia Islamia alumnus has curated a coffee table book documenting the events that unfolded during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Dedicating the book to his mentor and Pulitzer awardee Danish Siddiqui, he said it was the brainchild of the slain photojournalist.
The photobook titled ‘Hum Dekhenge’ by Mohammad Meherban and Aasif Mujtaba comprises photographs from the events that panned out from December 12, 2019 to March 22, 2020. Meherban graduated from Jamia Millia Islamia last year while Mujtaba was associated with the Shaheen Bagh sit-in protests.
“Not only does it have photos of the events that unfolded in Delhi but also what happened during those months in Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai and other places. We want people to know what happened,” Meherban told PTI. The book consists of photos of the protests outside Jamia Millia Islamia, the police action in the campus, the Shaheen Bagh protest and the Delhi riots.
“Some of the photos of Delhi riots have not been published before. We sourced them from 28 photographers and chose 223 pictures from nearly 10,000 of them,” Meherban said.
Jamia Millia Islamia had become the epicentre of anti-CAA protests after police barged into the campus and allegedly attacked students in the library on December 15, 2019.
The police had said they entered the campus to look for outsiders involved in violence during the protests, a few metres away from the university.
Crediting Siddiqui, who was killed while covering clashes between the Afghan troops and the Taliban in Kandahar’s Spin Boldak district, for the book, Meherban said, “He was my mentor. I had met him after the police action in the campus on December 15. He was back home from an assignment. He told me to collect these photographs since these would be part of history. In fact, he arranged photos from Reuters and they are part of the book. The book has his photos too.”
Remembering his mentor, Meherban said, “Danish bhai wanted to see the book but I told him I will show the final draft. In July, he was killed. The book was finalised in August. The only regret is he could not see the book. I would have shown him the book on Bakrid.”
According to Meherban, the first page of the 112-pages book mentions Siddiqui and has foreword by senior lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan.