Meet photojournalist Praveen Jain, who is keeping a keen eye on history

Jain became a witness to the Ayodhya case after covering what he felt was a routine assignment for a weekly newspaper

For Praveen Jain, the growing pitch for a Ram temple in Ayodhya has played out in recent weeks to an all-too-familiar script. The associate editor (photo) with The Indian Express is the only photojournalist to have documented a dummy run a day before the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

At the time, Jain was working with The Pioneer, which did not publish his photos. The editors thought little of the rehearsal even as no one quite anticipated what was to follow. On December 6, 1992, the 16th-century shrine was felled by a mob of kar sevaks (volunteers), who also unleashed their fury on the journalists, especially photographers including Jain, gathered to witness the fateful event.

The secret rehearsal was carried out at a ground near the mosque, off-limits to the media. Jain, who posed as a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) worker, gained entry with the help of Baikunth Lal Sharma “Prem”, a former member of Parliament.

Jain says workers from Sangh Parivar outfits such as the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and the Shiv Sena were wielding construction tools in a professional manner. “They had created a small hill, and were climbing it with the help of ropes.” A day later, they would ascend the mosque's dome to raze it.

Jain has been appearing as a witness in an ongoing case at a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in Lucknow that charged Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Union minister Uma Bharati with criminal conspiracy last year.

"The rehearsal shows that the demolition was pre-planned and not accidental, as the BJP has been claiming,” says Jain, who had given a blow-by-blow account in an article in The Pioneer.

The byzantine and sometimes absurd courtroom quarrels, thanks to the hearing being closed to the public or the press, irritate him. For instance, the defence lawyers have asked for his train tickets from 1992 as well as certificates to prove that he is indeed a lensman.

“I have told them that prime ministers who have come to my photo exhibitions aren’t fools to claim they know me. They tell me, ‘We know you are not lying but our job is to prove that you were not present in Ayodhya on December 5.’ Even the judge doesn't stop them. What do I do?”

He explains that when he began nearly four decades ago, he assisted celebrated photographer S Paul. “I used to carry his camera and polish his shoes; he would teach me photography in return. That guru-chela (teacher-learner) tradition in photography continues till today.”

Jain’s first job was with Delhi Recorder in 1983. He has also had stints with Surya India, India Week and Sunday Mail. Last month, his photos capturing prominent politicians in public and private over three and a half decades were on display at an exhibition in New Delhi.

Not all the photos were innocuous. Two days before the exhibition was inaugurated, a set of powerful images — of fearful men submitting to personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary — proved to be evidence that led the Delhi High Court to sentence 16 former policemen to life in prison for murdering 38 Muslims in the Hashimpura locality of Meerut in 1987.

Jain became a witness to the case after covering what he felt was a routine assignment for the Sunday Mail, a weekly newspaper. He had to resist attempts by CBI officials to brainwash, bribe and threaten him. After feigning ignorance initially, he produced negative reels of his telling photos that gave the lie to police claims.

Having witnessed December 6, 1992, he views the fresh clamour for a Ram temple in Ayodhya as mere rabble-rousing. “Why do they remember Ayodhya just before elections? They are playing with people's emotions. If the temple is built, what will they fight the next elections over?”