A steady stream of food delivery workers carrying meals, snacks and bottled water is helping to support a youth-led protest movement that has sprung up in the heart of India’s capital.
Motorcycles weave through traffic before stopping next to groups of volunteers, carrying donations from supporters across India and abroad, unable to join in a rare show of public dissent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
“From Kerala to the United States, orders are coming from everywhere,” said Suraj Kumar, 25, sitting on his motorcycle with a bag of kachoris, a popular fried snack, as volunteers scaled police barricades to take delivery of the packages.
A volunteer took the packet and passed it hand in hand toward the center of the protest site, a few hundred meters around Delhi’s Jantar Mantar observatory, where hundreds of people gathered around a raised platform.
There, leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a movement that began as an online satire in May, demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following repeated leaks of test papers. They have been there since last month, but the protest has only gained momentum in recent days after a prominent activist began an indefinite hunger strike in support.
Demonstration supported by “the kindness of the people”, declares a student
The encampment survived despite a major police crackdown on Monday, when tens of thousands of people, mostly young people, attempted to march towards Parliament. Indians under 30 are estimated to make up more than half of the country’s 1.42 billion people, and many have long complained that years of strong economic growth have failed to create enough jobs.
“People are angry, especially after the police started beating innocent students. But not everyone can come here, so they are sending food,” said Raj Rathore, 25, a volunteer who has spent recent days unloading and distributing deliveries including bottled water, fruit and biscuits.
These contributions, along with volunteer-run support networks, helped keep the protest going around the clock, the students said.
“This protest is happening only because of the kindness of people and the fact that we are all united,” said Rina Rawat, a Delhi University student who is gathering people in queues inside the protest site.
Rawat, 20, was hit in the left leg by police batons on Monday, but returned the next day to “do her duty”, she said.
Protest features rare open criticism of Modi
Modi did not directly comment on the protests, although a minister said after a meeting of the ruling coalition that the prime minister had told them that “the strongest possible measures were being taken to protect the interests of students.” Pradhan promised “answers, reforms and accountability”.
At the protest site, the number of demonstrators swelled to 5,000 by late Wednesday afternoon, despite intermittent monsoon showers. Most were Gen Z students carrying placards, singing patriotic Bollywood songs and chanting slogans.
“Modi, we will not tolerate your autocracy,” one protester shouted as the crowd applauded, a rare sight under a leader who has dominated Indian politics since coming to power in 2014.
“I was a supporter of Modi until 10 days ago,” said Mukesh, who declined to give his second name. “But when I saw the police brutality, I was shocked.”
Young doctors and medical students provide first aid and medicines
Volunteers cleaned up puddles and picked up trash while others used portable fans to keep protesters cool in the humidity.
A medical stall staffed by volunteer doctors and medical students has been operating at the site for about a month. Volunteers said they have been particularly busy over the past two days.
“We provide first aid and medicine for dizziness and nausea,” said Bhavna, 23, who did not want to reveal her last name. “We too have suffered from paper leaks; the anxiety you feel is enormous.”
Many protesters took inspiration from India’s independence movement, holding up portraits of revolutionary Bhagat Singh, holding up copies of the Constitution and handing out roses. Others wore Spider-Man masks and raised slogans describing themselves as “bad guys.”
Nearby, Arpita Verma, 19, said “there has been too much Hindu-Muslim politics in India,” referring to the sharper religious divisions within Modi’s party, which mainly enjoys the support of the Hindu majority.
“But we have no room for that here – now we are united by a common cause and we are not afraid at all.”
