New Delhi18 hours agoAuthor: Vaibhav Palnitkar
23rd July, 10 AM, we reached Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) has been protesting here since 20th June. Right at the entry gate, we met a delivery agent. We stopped him and asked what he was carrying and for whom. The answer was – food, medicines, masks and some items like garbage bags. The person who booked said to deliver to Jantar Mantar address and hand it over to the people protesting.
He’s not alone, hundreds of agents like him are reaching Jantar Mantar throughout the day with parcels. Where a crowd of more than 10 thousand protesters remains gathered almost all the time. Someone is coming to deliver food and water, someone medicines-sanitary pads or other necessary items. This help is being sent from different parts of the country, but there’s neither the name nor address of the senders.
Food and medicines are being ordered and sent to Jantar Mantar not only from Mumbai, Delhi, UP and Keralam but also from countries like America, Canada, Qatar and Dubai.
Engineer from Keralam first sent food, then medicines
We wanted to know the name and address of the parcel sender by talking through the delivery agent and spoke to the person who sent the order from the agent’s phone itself. Then we found out that it was sent by Seejo from Keralam. He is a Malayali Christian and an engineer by profession. He has been continuously following the Cockroach Janata Party movement. He works in a corporate company, so he cannot come to Delhi and participate in the protest. Therefore, he chose this way to help.
Seejo says, ‘I cannot come there, so I sent items like juice, chips, and snacks for the protesters through quick delivery app. I have also sent some medical supplies, such as ORS, relief spray, so that those who are sick or injured can get some help.’ Seejo has just sent goods worth two thousand rupees to Jantar Mantar. A day earlier, he had already sent food spending around 5 thousand rupees.
Earlier, excess food was getting wasted, regarding which CJP made an appeal. After that, now packed food parcels are arriving.
Sanitary pads have also been sent for women protesters. Along with medicines and bandages.
Raju said- Coming to Jantar Mantar with orders every hour
After this, we met Raju who works for Amazon Fresh. He told us that he had brought goods worth about 7 thousand rupees for the protesters. Although his job was only to deliver the goods to the protest site, to ensure it reached the right people, he himself stayed back and got it delivered to the protesters in need.
Raju explains, ‘We are coming here with orders every hour. Most of the delivery partners at our dark store (local warehouse) are making rounds of Jantar Mantar to deliver goods.’
Lines of delivery agents including Swiggy and Zomato are queued up from morning to night at the entry gate of Jantar Mantar.
Social and religious organizations have also become active to help the protesters. They are getting food prepared and delivering it to the protest site.
Sent order from UP, said- We are students so we understand the pain
Right in front of us, outside the gate of Jantar Mantar, we found more than 24-25 Swiggy and Zomato delivery partners standing. We approached one of them. We asked the delivery partner to call the person who sent the order. When we spoke, we found out that this order was sent by Satyanand, a resident of Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh.
Satyanand, who is pursuing B.Ed, also wanted to come to Delhi but couldn’t due to his studies. He says, ‘I am also a student, so I understand their issues and pain. I fully support them. I cannot come to Delhi, but whatever I can do according to my capacity, I am doing.’
The delivery partner who brought his order informed that this was his 8th order at Jantar Mantar since morning. The day before as well, he kept delivering items at Jantar Mantar throughout the day.
Vinod, a resident of Uttarakhand, sent 20 plates of puri-sabzi for the protesters. Meanwhile, someone ordered burgers from McDonald’s.
Volunteers active to deliver orders to protesters
Student protesters are also active in delivering this help coming from across the country to those in need. Among them, Abhishek and Preeti are picking up items from the barricading outside Jantar Mantar and delivering them to the protest site about 400 meters away.
Abhishek explains that until now, people were taking the items sent for protesters to their homes midway, which is why we started this. Preeti says that if this help doesn’t reach those in need, the senders will feel cheated. That’s why we are delivering it to the right place.
According to both volunteers, everything from chole bhature, samosas, cold drinks to water is arriving here. There are sanitary pads for girls and medical supplies for the injured. Orders for slippers of different sizes have also come so that no one remains barefoot.
The ordered items include fruits, bread packets, fruit juice and water bottles.
Parcels of ORS packets, pain relief spray, masks and bandages have also arrived for the protesters.
Finally, an update on the CJP’s movement…
Government says – Called for talks 4 times
Students’ protest led by CJP at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar has been ongoing since June 20. The protesters are demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in the NEET paper leak case. The government said on July 23 that it is ready for talks with CJP at any time.
Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said that in the last 24 hours, CJP has been sent offers 4 times for talks at JP Nadda’s home or office. However, CJP has said that if the government wants to talk, they should come to Jantar Mantar or discuss at some neutral place. We will not go to anyone’s home or office. Meanwhile, CJP has now announced peaceful protests across the country on 24 July.
