Jamia alumnus brings out coffee table book on anti-CAA protests, a brainchild of slain Pulitzer awardee Danish
Several books on Shaheen Bagh ant-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) peaceful protest have been written. In the latest list of book on the subject is a coffee table book curated by a Jamia Millia Islamia alumnus Mohammad Meherban.
The book titled Hum Dekhenge by Meherban and Aasif Mujtaba has been dedicated to Pulitzer awardee Danish Siddiqui. The Jamia alumnus Meherban said it was the brainchild of the slain photojournalist, a resident of Ghaffar Manzil and Jamia alumnus, who died in Afghanistan while covering the conflict a few months ago and was laid to rest in Jamia graveyard.
Writing about the launch of his book on December 20 at Press Club of India from 3pm to 6 pm, Meherban tweeted: “All to attend and witness the launch of the photobook Hum Dekhenge…Do brace up the event with your ace presence, because we need you there with all your support.”
“With mixed feelings of joy and grief, joy because we have been able to successfully recollect and curate the parts of our resistance for the generations to come and grief to look back at the violence and betrayal unleashed upon us, we take an opportunity to invite you,” he tweeted.
“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.
He passed from Jamia in 2020. Mujtaba was associated with the Shaheen Bagh sit-in protests.
“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 played an important role during anti-CAA protests. The incident of December 15, 2019 is still alive as it was o this day that the Delhi police barged into the campus. Several students were injured in the library also.
“Danish 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. He 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,” said Meherban.
