The Kindness Report #20: How the CJP Protest Became a Story of Humanity

Note: This Kindness Report is a little different from the usual ones. It’s not one story – it’s many. And it happened right here in India, this week, in a city some of us call home.

For nearly two months, thousands of young people from across India have been sitting at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, in the July heat, asking for something simple: accountability. The protests, led by a youth movement called the Cockroach Janta Party, were about a lot of things. Exam paper leaks. A generation that felt ignored. A system that kept failing the people it was supposed to serve.

The Kindness Report doesn’t take political sides. But it does notice what happens between human beings when a crowd of tired, hungry, far-from-home young people sits down on a pavement and refuses to leave.

What happened in Delhi this past week was remarkable. And most of it had nothing to do with politics.

Nobody Asked Them to Send Food

Hundreds of food delivery orders began pouring in at the protest site at Jantar Mantar, placed by anonymous supporters from across the country who could not attend but wanted to show up in the only way they could.

It started with one viral video. A delivery partner arrived at the site and announced: “Someone named Anuj Rawat from Mumbai, Maharashtra, ordered the food and asked us to distribute it to anyone hungry at Jantar Mantar. The payment has already been made online.”

That was the spark. What followed was a flood.

Countless orders arrived – chai and samosas, vada pav, veg thalis, biryani, pizzas. No name, no details – just “Jantar Mantar” as the address. The food was arranged like a buffet, and anyone who wanted could take what they liked.

So much food arrived that the movement’s own social media account eventually had to post a message asking people to pause: “We have enough food for today! Please do not send any more food, as we want to ensure nothing goes to waste.”

Someone wrote in response: “This is not the power of social media. This is the power of love.”

The Gurdwaras That Never Closed

After Monday’s police crackdown, gurdwaras across the city threw open their doors to supporters – balconies, verandahs, guest rooms, all of it. Bangla Sahib, Rakab Ganj Sahib, Sis Ganj Sahib in Chandni Chowk, all opened to protesters looking for a meal, shelter, and first aid.

The sewadars (volunteers who serve at gurdwaras) had a long night after the march. When the injured started arriving at around 4 pm, all sewadars, including devotees, left everything and helped. Every injured person received first aid. When the kitchen tried to take food to the protest site and was stopped by police, they simply opened the doors wider and let everyone come to them. There was food for everybody.

When asked about it, one sewadar said something that deserves to be quoted in full: “These are our children.”

Mosques joined in too. The Man Singh Road mosque ensured 24×7 water supply for all. “We do not discriminate on the basis of religion, caste or gender. All are welcome,” said its custodian.

The Strangers Who Showed Up in Person

Volunteers, vendors, and community groups turned Jantar Mantar into a massive open kitchen – distributing free meals, fruits, water, and even golgappas to students who had been sitting in the heat since morning.

One college student distributing water bottles put it simply: “It is very hot, and many students have been here since morning. If giving someone a bottle of water helps them stay here a little longer, that is enough for me.”

A man showed up with coconuts. Another arrived with boxes of pizza. An auto driver gave free rides to exhausted protesters at 3 in the morning. Office-goers stopped on their way to work. Elderly citizens and children stood side by side serving meals. People who disagreed with each other on everything else agreed on this: these young people deserved to eat.

What Happened at Jantar Mantar Went Deeper Than Food

A B.Com graduate named Manish Kumar from Karnal arrived with just Rs 400 in his pocket, boarded a bus to Kashmere Gate, and walked 7 kilometres to the site. He said he had made friends for life – from MP, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Assam. Doctors, engineers, bank employees. “I have had conversations over chai with people I would not have met otherwise.”

That’s the quiet thing that happens when strangers sit together long enough and share food. The protest becomes secondary. The human connection becomes primary.

And Today,

On Saturday, July 25 (today), India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced his resignation, bowing to mounting pressure after tens of thousands of students and supporters took to the streets demanding accountability and sweeping reforms to the examination system.

The students won. Not all of their demands – the movement’s founder was clear that more remains to be done. But this was something. A generation that had been told it didn’t matter, that it was invisible, that its frustrations were noise – that generation sat down in the July heat, and the country sat down with it.

The Larger Thing

The Kindness Report exists to tell stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things for strangers. This week, India gave us hundreds of those stories at once.

Anonymous donors placing food orders from cities they’d never visit. Sewadars sweeping marble floors at midnight so exhausted teenagers had somewhere clean to sleep. A mosque keeper filling water bottles at 3 am. A college student with one thing to give, a bottle of water, giving it.

None of them were making a political statement. They were just looking at human beings who were tired and hungry and far from home, and doing what felt obvious.

Feed them. Give them chai. Tell them: you are our children, and you are welcome here.

Missed previous Kindness Reports? Read them here: The Kindness Report

Seen something kind around you? Tell us about it — we’d love to share it in a future Kindness Report.

Sources:
ThePrint — Gurdwaras open doors to CJP supporters | ThePrint — Anonymous food donors | Telangana Today — Jantar Mantar community kitchen | CNN — Education Minister resigns | Hindustan Times | India Today