Once Upon a Scream in Muzaffarnagar

Dalit, Jat, Muslim.... Western UP’s social fabric is coming apart. Politics leaves things at a loose end.

- Pragya Singh in Western

On a sultry June afternoon, Tara Singh crossed the Ganga-Yamuna doab, from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh down to new Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. He was joining thousands of other protesters, demanding justice for the Dalits of Shabbirpur in Saharanpur, whose homes were burned after clashes with local Rajputs in May. “The Yogi government has emboldened UP’s Thakurs,” says Tara. “They want to suppress us Dalits but we are unafraid.”