New Delhi: An electrician from Lucknow, a thelawala from Delhi, a doctor from Mumbai, nursing professionals, UPSC aspirants and PhD scholars are among the many volunteers working behind the scenes to keep the Cockroach Janata Party protest going at Jantar Mantar.While the protesters occupy the spotlight, these volunteers have been managing food and water donations from the public— supplies that recently came under scrutiny after police allegedly began restricting their entry and verifying the identities of those bringing them.At the protest site on Friday, queues formed for plates of rajma-chawal while stacks of water bottles, tiffins and large vessels of food lined one side of the makeshift camp. A few metres away, a small table became a dispensary with medicines for headaches, fever and stomach ailments. The arrangements are managed not by any organisation but by an informal network of around 15-20 volunteers who met only after the protest began on June 20.Volunteers wearing white T-shirts, with “Marshall Volunteer” written on them, have been helping distribute food and water, often seeking help from the protesters.“There is no organisation as such. Whoever wants to help comes forward,” said Md Junaid, an advocate from Ghazipur who coordinates the volunteers. “People from different professions and backgrounds have formed a camaraderie. We work in shifts so that someone is always available to manage the food, water and other essentials.”Among them is Surya Pratap Singh, a farmer from Madhya Pradesh who now lives in Noida. “I’ve been here since morning. By afternoon I’ll go home, and someone else will take over. Tomorrow I’ll return,” he said. Singh said he was moved by his own experience with recruitment exams. “I appeared for the MP Police recruitment exam in 2009 and the paper was cancelled. Two of my cousins qualified NEET but couldn’t secure admission to a govt medical college and the matter is still in court. I now farm on my family’s land and support two school-going children. I know what these families go through.”The volunteers say much of the food comes from ordinary people. Some arrive as home-cooked meals, while others send in orders for water, biscuits or juice through delivery apps. At one point during TOI’s visit, a man quietly dropped off nearly 50 kg of vegetable pulao. Volunteers said people often offer cash donations, which they usually decline, instead requesting them to directly send supplies.“If we urgently need to buy something, we pool in, paying Rs 200-300 each. That’s all. There is no outside funding,” one volunteer said.Among those helping are langar groups that routinely serve food outside Delhi’s hospitals.Others have put their livelihoods on hold. Brajesh Pandey, who runs a small thela in Noida and describes himself as a gau rakshak, said he has shut his business to stay at the protest site. “I lose nearly Rs 3,000 every day, but I want to support people fighting the system. I sleep here and spend the entire day here,” he said.An electrician from Lucknow, whose wife and one-and-a-half-year-old daughter are in his hometown, said his family does not even know he has been at the protest site since June 19. “It would only worry them,” he said.A DU PhD scholar from Uttar Pradesh, who requested anonymity, said she studies for three hours every morning before taking a Rapido ride from Wazirabad to Jantar Mantar to distribute water. “My parents tell me not to come because they worry about my safety. But students are dying by suicide. Someone has to raise questions,” she said.At the makeshift dispensary sat Dr Suresh Abhiman Gavai from Mumbai. “I have a comfortable life. We don’t need to be here,” he said. “But when the system begins to fail young people, you cannot remain comfortable forever.”Several volunteers declined to reveal their identities, citing security concerns. They also alleged that the recent police checks have discouraged people from bringing in supplies. “Just today, an auto carrying food was stopped for identity verification. The driver got scared and wanted to leave without unloading it. These things discourage people who only want to help,” one volunteer said.The protest site has several posters with QR codes which, when scanned, allow access to a form where people are given the option to join the CJP team. The form also asks supporters for their basic details, including which state they are from and how they could help the party.CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka alleged, “The police have been keeping surveillance on who is helping us with the tent, the stage, water, food — everything. People like Junaid bhai have been helping us arrange for food. A few days ago, someone arranged for mattresses for protesters. Everything here is being done by ordinary people for each other,” he said.Ranka said the party’s leadership has been stationed at the protest site almost round the clock since the agitation began. “We sleep here alongside the protesters and manage everything in shifts. We use public toilets to bathe. A few days ago I was unwell, so I rested briefly at a friend’s place, but otherwise all of us stay here. It’s all being managed on an ad hoc basis,” he said.He added that the party’s membership drive has so far received around 10 lakh registrations since late May.(with inputs from Arhaan Saha)
