India’s students protest runs on anonymous kindness despite setbacks

A cordoned-off patch of pavement outside Janpath Metro station on Delhi’s Tolstoy Road has turned into a makeshift supply depot. Food packets, cartons of bottled waters and medical supplies pile up as volunteers ferry them, one armful at a time, through layers of barricades into Jantar Mantar protest site. For more than a month, protesters here have been demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) paper leak.

Since the July 20 ‘Sansad Chalo’ march to Parliament, which drew an overwhelming crowd and ended in police action, support for the protest has only swelled – from larger crowds to non-monetary donations. Besides anonymous contributions, NGOs too have set up stalls for food and medical check-ups. But the aid effort has not been without setbacks.

Sachkhand Foundation, one of the organisations serving three meals a day to nearly 2,000 protesters for over 23 days, said its bank accounts, as well as those of some of its volunteers, were frozen on July 22. The group is now paying for the aid effort out of their pockets. Around 40 volunteers at a nearby gurdwara prepare rajma-chawal and roti-dal langars for lunch and dinner, while they get pizzas and samosas for snacks. The daily cost runs into lakhs.

“They’ve completely banned our bank accounts. Our international accounts had already been blocked, and now even the money people donated can’t be used. We don’t know what to do,” said one of the senior volunteers.

The Delhi-based organisation, which also ran community kitchens during the 2020 farmers’ protest, said it had never faced such action before. “It’s unprecedented.” Even so, anonymous deliveries have continued to arrive, everything from exotic fruits to high-end coffee. At least 60 of its volunteers work in shifts, moving through the protest site to distribute meals, umbrellas and raincoats.

“There’s a delivery almost every minute,” says a 46-year-old Delhi resident who has been taking time off work to help carry food and medicine parcels inside the protest site. As he speaks, food platform delivery workers arrive one after another, dropping off nameless prepaid orders of medicines, biscuits, burgers, usually enough to feed six to ten people.

A medical van-cum-ambulance operated by the 5 Rivers Heart Association has been stationed at the protest site around the clock since July 20. Every few hours, the team treats 80 to 90 patients – most of them in their 20s – for injuries and ailments ranging from lacerations and fractures to dehydration, diarrhoea, headaches and dizziness. The doctors work in shifts between 7 am and 10 pm, while a volunteer remains on site to assist protesters through the night.

“Every hour, we see five to seven patients with injuries from the lathi-charge,” said Harmandeep Singh, one of the doctors at the site. “Some can’t move their fingers or hands. Others were injured in the stampede. We’ve even had to refer some patients for X-rays.”

A final-year cardiology student at a local hospital, Singh first volunteered with the organisation during the farmers’ protest and has been at the Jantar Mantar protest site every day since July 21. The organisation has a pool of at least 50 doctors across Delhi who have agreed to volunteer in rotation.

Some independent volunteers told The Decifer they were being stopped by groups of security forces on the route to the protests. Two doctors who refused to be identified claimed their autorickshaws were halted and they were questioned before being allowed to proceed amid heightened security deployment. A local donor even claimed that his friends were detained at Lodhi Police Station while returning from the protest site after delivering supplies. Some delivery workers, too, say they have been stopped and questioned en route.

Meanwhile, Singh said donations have poured in from unexpected quarters. But one that moved him the most was by a 19-year-old student who had travelled to the protest from Bihar and donated medicines worth Rs 2,000. “He didn’t even want us to take his picture. People keep donating like this, and it’s also being used. We need ORS sachets, painkillers, medicines for headaches and antiseptic solutions the most.”

Another medical camp by the Medical Service Centre, set up outside the main stage two days after the Sansad Chalo march, began with just six volunteers and four boxes of medical kits. Within hours, it grew into a team of 15 doctors, physiotherapists and non-medical volunteers. “We had brought four boxes of medicines, but now we don’t have enough space to stock up the boxes of medicines, tissue wipes and sanitary pads. People are joining and donating on their own,” said Dr Alish Saifi of Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College. The organisation also provided medical relief during protests over the RG Kar rape and murder case in West Bengal’s Kolkata.

Several of these doctors were among those who took part in the July 20 march. The sight of protesters assaulted with batons prompted them to set up the camp. “They had wounds and cuts on their necks and legs that had remained untreated,” said Dr Saifi.

Another doctor, Riyaz Pathan, who runs a ten bed polyclinic in Mumbai, has been living out of the Jantar Mantar protest site since July 16, running a round the clock medical camp beside the main stage. “Such a large protest is taking place. I wanted to contribute in whatever way I could, so I came,” he said, adding that he will remain at the site until the protest ends, while his wife, also a doctor, manages their clinic back home.

Several other organisations, including Hemkunt Foundation and Nishkam Sewa, are also carrying out sewa, the Sikh practice of voluntary service to those in need.

Before the protest swelled in size, volunteers from student organisations such as AISA and SFI handled first aid and medical emergencies, while several local residents arranged food and drinking water. Among these locals is Mohammad Junaid who has now become a familiar face among protesters.

Some protesters involved in these efforts said they were questioned by the police about the source of the funding. Yet, by most accounts, the support has been driven by voluntary contributions, with many opting to be anonymous to avoid scrutiny.

A food stall owner, who has been running his shop close to Jantar Mantar for more than four decades, told The Decifer he has witnessed nearly every major protest here, from the India Against Corruption movement to the current student agitation. Every day, he sends around 100 plates of food to the protesters, even as the surge in footfall has boosted his own business.

Requesting anonymity, he said he has struck up friendships with student leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, as he once did with Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia during the India Against Corruption movement.

While activist Sonam Wangchuk has ended his hunger strike, the Cockroach Janata Party has remained firm in its call for Pradhan’s resignation. Their list of demands has expanded to include action against alleged brutalities by security forces on July 20, including “use of pellet guns” and teargas shelling besides lathi-charge.

At least three injured during the protest claimed pellet-like injuries, including an Outlook reporter who was on the ground. As per a report in The Hindu Businessline, a 19-year-old student Sahil Lochab may suffer vision loss “after pellet injury at the Delhi protest”. Another 25-year-old protester Irshad Mansoor’s pictures with “pellet-like wounds” were shared by the CJP’s official social media handles. He reportedly sustained “pellet gun injuries in his left eye, lower chin, shoulder and chest”. After sustaining injuries in a stampede-like situation during teargas shelling during the Sansad Chalo march, a 21-year-old Sakshi was put on a ventilator at the RML Hospital.

Despite several viral videos that have fuelled allegations of pellet firing by the Rapid Action Force, the Delhi Police has described the claims as “completely false and misleading”. As per their official statement, around 60 protesters and over 118 security personnel were injured in clashes.

While the BJP-led government has largely remained silent on the protests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a selfie video posted on X close to midnight, promised a “new law” and strict action to curb paper leaks. The reaction came as central Delhi swells with protesters and the protests garner growing support from celebrities, including actors and sportspersons.

The CPI-ML Liberation student body AISA, meanwhile is enjoying renewed attention after its activist Neha Bora completed a 23-day hunger strike demanding accountability over paper leaks. The JNU scholar has since been busy meeting politicians and activists, and has also addressed people from the protest stage, thanking them for coming “to keep education and democracy alive”. Alongside Pradhan’s resignation, Bora has also called for the dismissal of Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar over alleged police excesses.