The muddy streets of Shabbirpur village in Saharanpur are full of red-brick structures that the residents still can’t call home. These houses, owned by Dalits, were torched allegedly by the Thakurs of the village on May 5, when violence broke out following an ongoing tussle over installing a statue of B.R. Ambedkar outside a Dalit temple.
Manveer Singh, a Dalit resident, is a complainant in one of the FIRs against the Thakurs and is also booked on charges of attempt to murder in a counter FIR. Standing inside the same temple with over 200 people from the community, Mr. Singh says “his people” still live in fear but are also ready to face any difficulties that life throws at them.
Viral video
Agni Bhaskar, another man with a seemingly huge following among the Dalits, shares the sentiment. “There are conspiracies floating against us because we are poor. They want to put us inside jail and silence us but I don’t think we’ll let that happen,” says Mr. Bhaskar.
The fear Mr. Singh talks about is what their children are facing on a daily basis. Showing a video that has gone viral in the village, Lal Singh, former Gram Pradhan, says: “On Monday, a Class IV student who goes to a private school run by Thakurs in Chandpur village nearby was humiliated by a teacher because he had written ‘ Jai Bhim ’ on top of a page in his notebook. The teacher had put a huge cross on ‘ Jai Bhim ’ and scolded the student after which a few of us went to speak to him”. They did not file a police complaint because the matter was resolved amicably, he claimed.
Torched shops
Four months since the violence, the Dalits say they are struggling to bring their life back on track. The labourers who used to work in the fields of Thakurs have stopped going to “that side”. Those whose shops were torched find it difficult to restart.
“I was a salesman. I used to transport goods, including grocery, across villages but after May 5, I had to stop because of the atmosphere,” says Mr. Manveer, tearing up.
Raj Kumar, a daily wage labourer, says he used to work in the fields owned by the Thakurs but doesn’t anymore “because it’s about our honour”.
However, the Thakurs denied there was any tension among the two castes. Sumit Kumar, Gram Pradhan of the village, a Thakur, says: “There is no problem between us. My Harijan brothers come here regularly. We have a wheat grinder; we help them whenever they need to crush wheat,” he says, adding that Dalit labourers continue to work at their fields.
Tejpal Singh, an 85-year-old Thakur sitting next to the Gram Pradhan says: “ Unhe vo moorti lagani hi nahi chahiye thi, ye Ambedkar basti nahi hai (They shouldn’t have tried to install the statue, this is not an Ambedkar village)”.
Clear distinction
On the village streets, there is a clear distinction between land owned by Thakurs and those by Dalits. Those belonging to the latter bear clear signs of a family battling for survival.
Among the houses that were most affected by the ablaze was of Dal Singh’s. He started rebuilding it on Sunday and still walks with a limp because of the injuries he suffered in the violence. “I am out of work because of my health. Both my sons moved to Haridwar for work. It’s going to be a long time before our life returns to normalcy,” he says.
Meanwhile, members of Karwan-e-Mohabbat — a social campaign travelling across States meeting the victims of hate crime, Dalits in this case — assure them of help.
