Photograph © Prashant Panjiar
Photograph © Prashant Panjiar
Photograph © Prashant Panjiar
Photograph © Prashant Panjiar
Photograph © Prashant Panjiar
Photograph © Prashant Panjiar
Photograph © Prashant Panjiar
Photograph © Prashant Panjiar
Photograph © Prashant Panjiar
Photograph © Prashant Panjiar
Photograph © Prashant Panjiar
Photograph © Prashant Panjiar
The photographs in this project have been shot over the period from 2002 to 2019.
I first went to Ayodhya in 1987, while with India Today, to cover one of the first Vishwa Hindu Parishad rallies there. I was there on 6 Dec 1992, again for India Today, and photographed the demolition of the Babri Masjid. As a photojournalist I have been witness to communal hatred through my entire career - first covering Punjab during the terrorism years; then the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi; covering the aftermaths of communal riots in Bhagalpur, Meerut, and Ahmedabad in the '80s; seeing the rise of militancy in Kashmir; and then the communal violence caused by the Hindu Right, starting with the Ram Janambhoomi movement right till the Gujarat riots of 2002.
Since 2001, when I started working as an independent photographer, I have had time to reflect on the long-term scars that such polarization and hatred leaves on our society. At the same time, I became interested in looking at those communities that are at the center of these conflicts. That is why I went back to Ayodhya and began photographing this town that has caused so many reverberations across our country.
Ayodhya - In the Eye of the Storm is a portrait of a town that has changed the social and political fabric of contemporary India forever but, ironically, has itself slid into disrepair, decay and neglect.
-----
At the time of our 1:1 Interview with Prashant, he was asked this question about Ayodhya - In the Eye of the Storm.
PSA: How did your ongoing project Ayodhya: In the Eye of the Storm begin? What compels you to continue working on it?
PP: I was with India Today when I was at Ayodhya, on 06 Dec 1992 [the demolition of the Babri Masjid]. I was witness to what happened that day, and I was the only photographer who made pictures of the domes actually falling. Since I was with L.K. Advani the whole time on the Ram Katha Kunj, everybody thought that I was a VHP photographer, and not a news photographer. (All the news photographers were attacked by the Kar Sevaks and prevented from making photos.)
Throughout my photographic career, one of the issues that has hounded me has been communalism. Right from the 1984 Sikh riots to Kashmir, to Punjab, to all the communal riots in Meerut, Bhagalpur, Mumbai, Ahmedabad etc. Communal politics and the hatred that it evokes has been a major concern to me.
In the name of Ayodhya, all kinds of things were happening across the country, with the entire country focusing everywhere but Ayodhya. When I started freelancing, in 2002, I wanted to go back to this town that was so central to everything else that was happening across the country. Because of my relationship with Indian Express, I was able to convince them to commission me to work on a story that covered ten years of Ayodhya. This time, I approached the story in a totally different way. I took no flights and hired no cars. I arrived by train in Lucknow, and took a bus to the city of Faizabad. In Ayodhya, I just walked around by myself, absorbing the life that I saw and photographing it. I came away with a wealth of material, much more than I needed for the Express story. I then created opportunities to return in 2003 and again in 2004, as I realized that I wanted to work more in this town. I could see a project forming. But again, I got caught up in other things, and there was another gap of many years. In fact, the period between 2010-2016 was a time when I hardly did any photography, as I was occupied with the Delhi Photo Festival and the Nazar Foundation. Post 2016, I realized that I had these projects lying around that were far from complete, and Ayodhya was one of them. Since then, I have been visiting and revisiting Ayodhya. I see this work as a portrait of Ayodhya, making its own subtle observation of what's happened to our society. I am pleased with this work.
20 November
