Twenty years on, the film explores some of the ways in which the '92 riots in Bombay have been and continue to be represented - in the realms of art and photojournalism. It weaves in and out of...
On December 6, 1992, Hindu fundamentalists demolished the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya. In the aftermath of this event, there was violence in many parts of India, including Mumbai. Over 900 people lost their lives in two phases of violence between December 1992 and January 1993. Of these, 356 people died in police firing.
Thousands were injured, lost their homes and livelihoods and left the city.This violence changed the city in many ways that we need to reflect upon. From spatial segregation of communities on religious lines to a growth of the politics of hate, these changes have deeply affected the cosmopolitan fabric of Mumbai.
This site brings together the work done by the students and the faculty of School of Media and Cultural Studies, between 2012 and 2014, which seeks to revisit and remember the violence that the city of Bombay/Mumbai experienced in December 1992 and January 1993.
The work resulted in a series of 6 films, excerpts of which are included here. This work was initiated as a part of the campaign Bombay ki Kahani Mumbai ki Zubaani which was held between December 2012 and January 2013.
In a political and social context where the memory of this violence has been rewritten and all but erased, it is crucial to remember, to explore the contours of normalised prejudice and to understand how the survivors have struggled with the denial of justice. It is also necessary to think about how and why the memory of such a watershed event gets erased and who benefits from this erasure.
The website explores different kinds of memory, organised around themes:
Memories of forced shifting and resettlement, the emergence of ghettos and segregation (stories from Mumbra and Jogeshwari).
Memories of bystanders in communally polarised areas, the formation of stereotypes and rewriting of history (Mohammad Ali Road, Mahim).
Memories of and struggles against denial of justice (the Hari Masjid police firing, interviews with lawyers and activists).
Memories of those who tried to work for peace in communities torn apart by the violence (Dharavi, Mohalla Committee Movement Trust).
Memories of those who represented the events of 1992-93 in print and visual media (journalists, photographers, artists).
Every event of the 1992-93 riots, documented in the Justice Srikrishna report, has been catalogued and mapped on this site. All quotes that appear on the site are from interviews conducted during the filming of the Remembering 1992 series of documentaries. News clippings were accessed from the archives of the Centre for Education and Documentation and the research reports showcased on the site were made available to us by leading activists and journalists.
Conceptualized by: Prof. Anjali Monteiro and Prof. K.P. Jayasankar
Research: Faiz Ullah, Mridula Chari and Sriram Mohan
Films created by: SMCS Class of 2013
Theme painting: "Accident on May Day, 1981" by Dr. Sudhir Patwardhan
Project supported by: Research Council, TISS (Urban Aspirations in Global Cities Project) and Jamsetji Tata Trust.
Designed by: HNH Digital
Developed by: QED42
Guided by: Ethan Winn
Managed by: Mridula Chari and Sriram Mohan
TISS Technical Support: Alpesh Gajbe and Ganesh Gajre
Acknowledgements: Centre for Education and Documentation, Bombay ki Kahani Mumbai ki Zubaani, Meena Gopal, Chayanika Shah, Naresh Fernandes and Dilip D'Souza
Transcription by: Apoorva Nanjangud, Ashwini Falnikar, Mahaprajna Nayak, Ranu Tomar and Veda Thozhur
School of Media and Cultural Studies
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
V.N. Purav Marg,
Deonar, Mumbai – 400 088
Phone: +91-22-25525667
Fax: +91-22-25525050
Email: smcs@tiss.edu
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