“We are already living in constant misery and dying a slow death. It's better to die here.”

When Arun, a 27-year-old cobbler from Uttar Pradesh, said this at Jantar Mantar on Friday, he had no way of knowing what would happen just a day later. 

On Saturday, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned, and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) called off its weeks-long agitation, declaring that the government had accepted all its demands. Protesters who had spent nights on the pavement started going home.

The movement’s public face, in the days that followed the July 20 police crackdown, was largely that of students, grieving and concerned parents, the CJP leadership, Sonam Wangchuk, young professionals and the influencers and content creators who turned Jantar Mantar into a live broadcast. 

But standing shoulder to shoulder with them – sleeping on the same pavement, absorbing the same lathis – was another group that had gone comparatively unnoticed: plumbers, painters, masons, barbers, and cobblers, none of whom had any exam to sit for or any degree at stake.

They had the most to lose and the least to gain, but they showed up anyway.

This is their account of why.

‘Police were ruthless with us’

Speaking to Newslaundry, Arun showed his darkened bruises on his hand and leg from the police lathi charge on July 20.

“Even in a peaceful protest, they were so ruthless to us; I don’t know why,” he said. When asked if he is worried about detention, he added, “We are living in a country where I already feel like I am detained. We are unable to raise our voices or fight for our rights.”

He had been at Jantar Mantar for the past week. He was one of dozens of workers who travelled from across north India to join the CJP protests. Many of them travelled in groups ranging from 3 to 10 people. Some joined before July 20; others joined afterward, after seeing the police crackdown online.........

© newslaundry