“We felt strange and insecure in a society where religious animosity had reached unmanageable proportions.” Sushil Srivastava, a professor of medieval and modern history at Allahabad University, wrote these words in the preface to his 1990 book, The Disputed Mosque: A Historical Inquiry, an account of the nineteenth-century origins of the communal dispute that would culminate in the destruction by a Hindu mob of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, on 6 December 1992. When I met Srivastava, shortly before ( 2019) his death earlier, he was living those words, feeling strange and insecure in a society governed by those forces of religious animosity. His professional career had been derailed in the years since he wrote the book, and he had been threatened with physical violence. His book itself, and the history it laid out, had largely disappeared from the public consciousness. He had been a public witness in the Allahabad High Court case, but on 9 November, a few months after his death, the Supreme Court ruled on the appeal with a verdict that seemed to rely more on popular belief than on historical fact. “Enough is enough,” he told me. “Even I just want to forget this book.” We report facts from The Field, not from The Studio. #thefield #thefieldmedia #fieldmedia #delhi #congress #ambedkar #brambedkar #muslimslivesmater #democracy #democracyinIndia

THE FIELD “ Bringing Facts Alive from The Field.” WE have Tunnelvision, BUT don`t have Television. WE have corporatized media workers, BUT don`t have constitutional media Professionals. WE have rioter reporters to design riot Fields, BUT don’t have reporters to report systemic biasness in the Field. WE have hater anchors to create bloodshed hearts and minds , BUT don’t have Fact tellers in The Field. WE have Jesters to design fictional narrative, BUT don’t have Journalists to report about non-fictional facts in the Field. We report facts from The Field, not from The Studio. #thefield #thefieldmedia #fieldmedia #delhi #congress #ambedkar #brambedkar #muslimslivesmater #democracy #democracyinIndia

THE FIELD “ Bringing Facts Alive from The Field.” WE have Tunnelvision, BUT don`t have Television. WE have corporatized media workers, BUT don`t have constitutional media Professionals. WE have rioter reporters to design riot Fields, BUT don’t have reporters to report systemic biasness in the Field. WE have hater anchors to create bloodshed hearts and minds , BUT don’t have Fact tellers in The Field. WE have Jesters to design fictional narrative, BUT don’t have Journalists to report about non-fictional facts in the Field. We report facts from The Field, not from The Studio. #thefield #thefieldmedia #fieldmedia #delhi #congress #ambedkar #brambedkar #muslimslivesmater #democracy #democracyinIndia

THE FIELD “ Bringing Facts Alive from The Field.” WE have Tunnelvision, BUT don`t have Television. WE have corporatized media workers, BUT don`t have constitutional media Professionals. WE have rioter reporters to design riot Fields, BUT don’t have reporters to report systemic biasness in the Field. WE have hater anchors to create bloodshed hearts and minds , BUT don’t have Fact tellers in The Field. WE have Jesters to design fictional narrative, BUT don’t have Journalists to report about non-fictional facts in the Field. We report facts from The Field, not from The Studio. #thefield #thefieldmedia #fieldmedia #delhi #congress #ambedkar #brambedkar #muslimslivesmater #democracy #democracyinIndia