A Photojournalist Dishes the Dirt on Reporting From the Heartland

Protests have erupted in India and Bangladesh after award-winning Bangladeshi photojournalist, Shahidul Alam was arrested for his comments during a Facebook live with Al Jazeera. Alam, whose work has been published in organizations like the New York Times, criticised the government over their handling of recent student protests in the country. He also told members of the foreign media that he was tortured in police custody.

Journalism is at best of times, not the most risk-free profession. But in countries such as India, with few structures in place to ensure the protection of journalists, that makes it that much riskier.

VICE spoke to Pramod Adhikari, a freelance photojournalist in Lucknow about the difficulty of being a journalist reporting from smaller cities and towns. Adhikari has worked for the The Indian Express, Tehelka, The Caravan, Catch News and DLA. We asked him about the shift in journalism under the Yogi Adityanath government and what he has to show for a 15 year career.

VICE: Where all have you worked?
Adhikari: I started in 2003 as a freelancer with Rashtriya Sahara, a Hindi newspaper in Lucknow, for Rs 200 a day. I got my break in 2005 with The Indian Express, when they hired me, paying me Rs 100 a photo. There were many other jobs in between.

Things are good however, The Indian Express pays Rs 500 for a photo now.

Have you ever been threatened on the job?
Once, I was at a party with Congress MLA Akhilesh Das near the 2014 elections. A couple of my stories about him had been published, and they weren’t flattering. He didn’t recognise me, so he started talking about a “ Promod Adhikari jo unke peeche padha hai” (there’s a Promod Adhikari who is after me).

He eventually found out, and some goons hounded me, “Humaare sahab ke baare mein zyada bologe”? (How dare you write about our leader?) and started attacking me.

I got six stitches and a fracture in my arm. I complained to the police, and his people tried to put pressure on me, but local journalists banded together and got an FIR registered. I was offered Rs 50,000 to take it back.

Did you take the money?
Yes, when Das came to me and apologised, claiming he wasn’t involved and that his people cared for him too much. I figured why would someone this big try to hurt me, some people become bhakts and just take things into their own hands.

Have you ever been shot?
In 2004, a workers’ union was protesting against the government's Raj Sadak Parivahan Nigam in Lucknow. They began their protest near Lal Bagh, and the authorities were unprepared for the sheer number of people. There were about four-five thousand people. They started throwing stones at the police. There was a fire truck nearby, three other photographers and I climbed it to get a better view. This was happening near the Gomti river and some union workers surprised everyone, as they came from the river banks and started pelting stones. After a stone hit the camera-lens of a colleague, we all jumped from the truck and ran towards the police.

While running, we tried to get a picture of the pelting from the front. One of the union leaders took out a gun and started firing. We got pictures of him firing and he was later arrested. One of the bullets whizzed past us.

Have you ever been censored?
We’d done a story once on the Supreme Court ban on further construction of Mayawati’s memorials. Even after the ban, people were sneaking in to work at night. The photo itself was the story in that instance, and upon seeing them next morning, my editor at DNA appreciated them.

In the evening I was told that the story was dropped. Some friends on the staff told me people in the government called in to stop the press.

Has it become better or worse under the BJP?
From what I’ve felt, ‘Na toh inke mukhyamantri, no toh inke neta.” In previous regimes under Akhilesh [Yadav], if we wanted to speak to him about something, like problems we had regarding coverage, he would stop and listen. These guys [BJP] only respond when you give them a namaskar.

When we cover their politicians, like the PM for assembly elections last year, the security personnel made a small roped-corridor for all of us to stand and take pictures, like we are caged animals. Also, on the day Yogi Adityanath was named chief minister, we went to the assembly to take pictures, and the security personnel starting shoving us, misbehaving with us, and broke the camera of my friend Rajan Chandel.

For photojournalists, the Akhilesh government was one lakh times better.

Why do you think that is?
In my point of view, the BJP came to power in UP on the plank of discipline. They campaigned hard against the lawlessness under the previous government. So to show the people that they are doing work, we have seen a rise in encounters. Perhaps they think that increased encounters will increase terror and help in the law and order situation, but it hasn’t worked I think.

From what locals and journalists are saying, it seems like some of the encounters are fake.

Do you get scared?
It’s been 15 years and I don’t get scared anymore. In the beginning there wasn’t fear, just eagerness. But now I’ve learned how to work and assess the situation.

Sometimes in lathi-charges the police beat us up and sometimes the protesters do. It’s even worse for reporters; at least we have a camera to quickly prove that we’re journalists. It has happened so many times that we are used to these things now.

In 2012 we were given information that a Naxalite, Lalvrat Kol, was killed in a fake encounter in, but he was still alive and working as a Naxal commander.

We reached the Naxalite’s village, it was called Devnagpur perhaps, someone started firing at the car. Our driver got scared and stopped the car, and suddenly around 10 people jumped out of the boulders and surrounded the car. They took our ID and equipment and kept us in a hut for six to seven hours. They refused to let us interview him and sent us back.

I laugh now at how nervous I was, as the four of us peed and shat on the river bank as they looked on.

Wow.
Yeah there are some more. One time, the Baahubali minister, Amanmani Tripathi, was in jail serving time for murder. I did a story for The Indian Express with their reporter Ramendra Singh, about how Tripathi doesn’t really stay in jail. He had a room in Baba Raghav Das Medical College, No. 8, which was booked for him and his wife. They stayed there with all facilities and hosted lots of people in the evenings.

We went to do that story, but his flunkies didn’t let us anywhere near him. Extremely scared, we went around and got our car parked near his window, but someone started screaming, “Dekho saala madarchod photo kheech raha hai, pakdo saale ko,” just as I took out the lens to take the picture. Our driver drove and we got away. We tried to tell the police that he wasn’t in jail, who then told us that we were misinformed.

We finally ran the story, “The inmate of Room No. 8”.

Is it easier being a photojournalist than a traditional reporter?
In my experience, a photojournalist’s job is more difficult. A reporter can sit back, observe, take notes and write. We have to get into the action and try to get a picture which explains the story. To show what really is happening, even if there is stone pelting, or bullets being fired, or fires being started. If you want to become a good photojournalist, you have to be able to work in all kinds of environments.

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