Photojournalists do a difficult, and often thankless job. They document the reality and hand the pictures to publications, knowing fully well that a lot of people won’t look at the credits.
They do what they do because they are committed, they do it because it’s their duty, they do it because it’s important.
Danish Siddique was a man driven by these values.
Thanks for your kind words. I don’t think there is anything HEROIC about it. As journalists, this is what we signed up for. It’s our DUTY to document what is happening around us. https://t.co/zuNkyK8Mt4
— Danish Siddiqui (@dansiddiqui) April 26, 2021
He went to war zones to document conflicts, covered the pandemic in India, took pictures of a dangerous armed man standing a few feet away from him during the anti-CAA protests in New Delhi.
He showed us what it means to be driven out of your home, what it means to be a refugee.
And when the entire media was busy solving the mystery of how Rhea Chakraborty procured weed, he was the one taking pictures of people suffering because of the virus, even when it was not in their bodies.
Danish’s death has taken a hero from among us, and while this loss can never be overcome, we can all come together to honour him.
Turns out, that’s too big an expectation. Some people, actually many, seem to think that it is his “karma” that led to his demise.
Hmmm, but clicking pics of funeral pyres in India and selling them as disaster porn is ‘courageous journalism’! pic.twitter.com/FlxTo7mBxT
— Shefali Vaidya. 🇮🇳 (@ShefVaidya) July 17, 2021
That he “paid for” the ‘sin’ of showing things the way they happened. The government failed its citizens on every front during the pandemic, leading to deaths of thousands of people every day for months. But somehow, it’s Danish’s fault for showing it.
He deserved as much respect he showered on others. !! #Karma https://t.co/tVWtHwbFWZ
— Dr Yuthika (@YuthikaSharma) July 16, 2021
Clicking someone’s private funeral pictures is not breathtaking journalism. Sad. It’s just invasion of privacy https://t.co/SZnPnQrYPu
— ABHINAV SINGH 🇮🇳 (@asoulwindow) July 16, 2021
So the dignity of hundreds of families on the pyres didn’t matter? It was okay to make millions off their suffering? It was okay to write false narratives and allow the international colonisers exploit the situation they themselves created by impoverishing our people? Please.
— Kamya (Wandering Kamya) (@iamkamyabuch) July 16, 2021
RIP #DanishSiddiqui. I hope noone will fly drones over your last rights. Everyone deserves dignity in death.#Reuters pic.twitter.com/jDo1UTKTZW
— Eminent Intellectual (@totalwoke) July 16, 2021
Too sad to hear about #danishsiddiqui.
— SubbuS (@Subbu_06) July 16, 2021
After all the useless shots he had taken, never thought he will end up also by taking a shot. 😭
Even the Gods know that our Judiciary is bakwas… So they sent the God of Karma to work it’s way. https://t.co/KkC3thFjTF
— Gloria Sylvia 🇮🇳 (@GloriaSylvia12) July 17, 2021
Only in India photojournalists are awarded to click photos of tragedy. That is the earning source of media. India did not punish Danish but by his own…https://t.co/r02Jynmrff
— Sparkler (@uZruuDohin5gTKW) July 17, 2021
Danish was always respectful towards the dead and the ones mourning them. He did not cross any boundaries. As for the pictures of the pyres, they were necessary. Stuck inside their houses, the people of India would have never gotten a true perspective of how bad the state negligence actually was.
He did his job, and he did it well. He put himself at risk for all of us. Danish passes away as a hero.