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New Delhi: It is Day 20 of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar and Day 11 of their hunger strike. The monsoons have finally arrived and the capital city is drenched. So is the protest site. 

The security checks for those visiting the protesting cockroaches seem stricter than usual and the police present look tense. I soon find out why. Permission has been denied to the protestors to bring extra tarpaulins to the protest site, and so a group of protestors have simply sat down on the tarpaulins they were trying to bring in just outside the protest perimeter. 

They are ringed by an exceptionally large number of stone-faced security personnel from the Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force (RAF).

Police and security personnel initially denied protestors permission to bring in the tarpaulins. Photo: Rohit Kumar.

Mudita, a student associated with the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS) that has been part of the protest since it began is asking the police and security personnel present why they aren’t being allowed to bring in the tarpaulins. 

“We are not asking you for a Gaganyaan to fly to the moon! We are only asking to bring in extra tarpaulins because it has been raining and everyone has been getting drenched!”

“We are not asking you for a Gaganyaan to fly to the moon! We are only asking to bring in extra tarpaulins because it has been raining and everyone has been getting drenched!”

A senior police officer tells her they have not received “permission” to let the tarpaulins in.

Mudita then raises her voice and addresses the huge force surrounding her and her comrades:

“You do understand, don’t you, that we are protesting for the right of YOUR children to a good education as well? We want a country where everyone has access to good education, not just the children of the rich and the ministers!”

“You do understand, don’t you, that we are protesting for the right of YOUR children........

© The Wire