I had barely stepped inside the protest site at Jantar Mantar when another delivery rider walked in carrying cartons of food. Before volunteers could finish unloading them, someone pointed to another rider waiting outside. Then another.
For around 20 minutes, the scene repeated itself.
At one end of the protest, volunteers served dal chawal. A few metres away, another group was handing out rajma chawal. Tea and sandwiches had arrived earlier in the morning. By evening, burgers would begin showing up. Crates of bottled water lined the pavements. Nobody seemed worried about the next meal.
What caught me by surprise wasn’t just the quantity of food, it was the mystery behind it. Every volunteer I spoke to said the same thing, which is that they rarely know who has paid for the deliveries. They only know where the order has come from.
As the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) protest entered another week, one of the strongest displays of support wasn’t unfolding on the stage or in speeches. It was arriving quietly in paper bags and food cartons, ordered by strangers from cities hundreds of kilometres away.
Many protesters say this wave of support gathered pace after the July 20th crackdown, when people who couldn’t join the protest in person found another way to participate.
FOR THE FIRST TIME, I FEEL THE COUNTRY IS STANDING TOGETHER
Mohammad Faizan Faraz, a protester from Delhi, says he had never witnessed such public support for a movement.
“This is the first time I’ve seen such overwhelming public support for a protest. People are helping in whatever way they can, from far and wide. It feels really good. Today, it truly feels like the whole country is standing together. We never expected to receive this much support,” he says.
He thanked those backing the protest and urged more people to join.
“A big thank you to everyone standing with us. And to those who are still thinking about coming, please come here and stand shoulder to shoulder with us.”
DELIVERIES WITHOUT NAMES, SUPPORT WITHOUT FACES
Rohit, a food distribution volunteer from Chandigarh, has been coming to the protest every day for the past week. He said the volume of deliveries changed dramatically after July 20.
“People started sending food deliveries in huge quantities after the July 20 protest. Nobody who sends food tells us their name. We only know where the food has come from,” he says.
According to him, food and water are now arriving from places far beyond Delhi.
“People are sending food even from Nagpur and Maharashtra. Water is also being delivered. Neither the protesters nor the volunteers have had to order anything ourselves. Everything is arriving in bulk, and there is no shortage of anything,” he adds.
FOR THREE DAYS, NOBODY HAS NEEDED TO ORDER FOOD
For Kailash, who has travelled from Gurugram every day for the past six days, feeding the crowd has become less about planning and more about making space for the next delivery.
“People are sending all the food through Zomato and Swiggy. For the last three days, nobody has had to order anything,” he says.
He pointed towards multiple food distribution points operating simultaneously across the protest site.
“We have enough drinking water. Food arrangements are in place from morning till night, and deliveries have been pouring in continuously for the past three days. There are at least 10 to 12 food distribution points across the protest site.”
The menu, he laughed, changes every few hours.
“At lunchtime, some people are eating dal chawal while others are having rajma chawal. Every morning, tea and sandwiches arrive. Dinner is different every day. We are even getting large numbers of burgers,” he says.
Kailash believes public participation increased after rumours surfaced questioning the source of the protest’s funding.
“I noticed people started sending food after July 20, especially after rumours began circulating about where the protest’s funding was coming from. Since then, public support has only continued to grow.”
Even now, he says, the identity of those placing the orders remains unknown.
“As more people become aware of the protest, orders are coming in from across the country. Sometimes they’re from Madhya Pradesh, sometimes Bhopal, Maharashtra or Chhattisgarh. We never know who has placed the order. Only the delivery partner or the restaurant owner knows.”
WE HAVE MORE FOOD THAN WE NEED
Mukul Shehrawat, who has been attending the protest every day for the past ten days, said the concern is no longer shortage.
“As of today, we have more food than we actually need. There is absolutely no shortage of anything.”
He says leftover food never goes to waste.
“We have so much food that we sometimes can’t finish distributing it here. Whatever is left over, we take outside and distribute to others. We make sure nothing goes to waste,” he adds.
Like many others at the site, he believes July 20 changed everything.
“Food started arriving in massive quantities after July 20. We never expected this. We thought there were only two possibilities. Either the crowd would shrink after that day or it would grow. What actually happened was that both the crowd and the support increased.”
He also criticised the government’s handling of the protests.
“If the government is listening, I would simply ask it to step down. There is no point saying anything to the Delhi Police because they are not here for us; they are here for the government. In reality, the people should be the ones who own the government, but instead we have been made to feel like its servants, even though we are the ones who elected it,” he says.
A DONOR SPEAKS
India Today reached out to one of the people who has been anonymously supporting the protesters through food and other essentials.
Ritika Verma, a 53-year-old resident of Noida and a former university teacher says she has been unable to visit Jantar Mantar because she is recovering from a knee replacement surgery. Instead, she has chosen to support the students from home.
The issue, she says, is deeply personal. Her elder son is a practising doctor in Mumbai, and she remembers the years of preparation, coaching expenses and sacrifices that went into helping him secure an MBBS seat.
Since the protests began, Verma has sent around 150 cups of tea, seven umbrellas after watching students stand in the rain, besides meals from food companies and hot thalis.
“I feel bad that I can’t be there to support their voice. Their demands are valid, and I fully understand what these students and their families must be going through. This is my way of showing solidarity,” she says.
As I walked out of Jantar Mantar, another delivery rider had just pulled up. Nobody rushed to ask who had sent the food. They simply took the packets inside and began distributing them.
At this protest, the donors remain anonymous. Their support, however, is impossible to miss.
– Ends
