‘I’ll come back to meet my fellow cockroaches’: Last night at Jantar Mantar

One of them was Vivek Kumar, aka Viru Bhai, who had turned 20 on Saturday. When The Indian Express last met him in early July, he had quit his job at a mall in Gurgaon, joking that he was pursuing a course in “politics” at the protest site.

Volunteers cleaning the protest site, after their demands were met at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on Saturday. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)

After spending over a month at Jantar Mantar, Vivek found it difficult to leave. This year’s birthday, he said, had brought him nearly 15 times as many wishes as last year’s.

“Andar se rona aa raha hai, ek connection sa feel ho gaya tha yahan (I feel like crying. I’d started to feel a real connection here),” he said. “Nobody came with ego or attitude, they were real and memorable people. Even my family wouldn’t have given such love. I love these people,” Vivek added.

Students cheering who were demanding resignation from the education minister, after their demands were fulfilled, at Jantar Mantar protest site in New Delhi on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)

He glanced towards the stage, where he had spent weeks volunteering, and said he feels proud to have been part of the movement. “In 10-15 years, I’ll tell my children their father helped bring about the education minister’s resignation on his birthday and they’d better study,” he said, laughing.

Vivek, who dreams of starting his own political party in his hometown of Hajipur in Bihar, was set to board a train home on Sunday at 6 pm. “Right now, I’m still learning, I’ll go back and join a party campaign in Bihar… In a week, I’ll go to Manipur… I met a supporter here who asked me to come and help them raise their voice,” he added.

Just then, two people passed by carrying a stack of laddoos. Insisting that everyone take a sweet each, Vivek said, “This sweet is needed as a lot of bitterness has ended.”

Across the site, many sat on the ground reflecting on the past few weeks.

“All my friends are jealous that we were here when Pradhan resigned. They said: ‘You should have called us, we would have also come’,” said a bare-chested 21-year-old Imtiaz Ali, smiling as he checked out the views on the Instagram stories he had posted throughout the day’s celebrations.

Police leaving the protest site, after protest got over and demands were met at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)

After a day of dancing, sloganeering and cake-cutting, Ali and his three friends settled onto the Tolstoy Road footpath for the night, debating which song would best fit the reels they had shot.

“On Thursday evening, we were just having tea at our adda when we decided enough was enough. We had to come to Delhi, even if it meant getting beaten by lathis to support our peers,” said Ali, who travelled nearly 24 hours from Murshidabad in West Bengal with three of his friends.

They were among around a hundred people sleeping on the pavements outside Jantar Mantar.

Along the Kerala House stretch, supporters unfolded mosquito nets side by side while checking train schedules for the journey home. Others still milled around the protest site for one last look at the camp that had become the heart of the movement which had created history.

For Santosh Nirala, a 42-year-old mason from Sarangarh in Chhattisgarh, the journey ended in a twinge of disappointment.

He and a friend were attending a wedding and boarded a train to Delhi 15 minutes after the ceremony ended on Saturday.

Workers Dismantle the main stage of the protest site at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)

While passing through Agra Junction, they read the news. “A passenger sitting opposite me told me the minister had resigned. I said, ‘Wait, let me check.’ I couldn’t believe it. The first person I video-called was my daughter,” said Santosh, adding that she took the NEET exam this year.

“We missed it by a few hours,” he said. “I’m not a student, but my children are. There are many things that need to be corrected…”

A few hours later, senior police officers along with their teams reached the site and requested the supporters to leave as the garbage that had piled up for over a month had to be cleared.

Soon, garbage trucks rolled in. By around 1 am, the protest site, where a two-month-old online satirical platform had grown into one of the country’s first large-scale Gen Z-led protest movements, witnessing fiery speeches, songs and slogans, had fallen silent.

Vivek remained standing, leaning against a stone pillar, his eyes fixed on the empty space where the stage had stood. “I’ll come back to meet my fellow cockroaches,” he added.