A lawyer who feeds the protesters at Shaheen Bagh

Volunteers at a “langar” for the protesters at Shaheen Bagh.

One of those who is trying to ensure that food is available to the protesters against the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi is D.S. Bindra, an advocate who practises at the Karkardooma courts complex. Such has been his passion that he even sold one of his flats in Delhi to raise money for the langar, or community kitchen, there.

Talking to this correspondent, Bindra said he started the langar to serve people and humanity. He said his children suggested that the money set aside for donation to the gurdwara be used for such work. His wife and son also run the langars at Mustafabad and Khureji, the other locations in Delhi where protests have been happening for over a month. Bindra said the women of Shaheen Bagh “are not mere human beings, they are brave and courageous lionesses”. Bindra takes care to provide different types of food every day, including dal-chawal , poori-aloo , subzi , kheer , and also tea.

Bindra said once Sikh farmers from different places in Punjab came to participate in the ongoing protest, he thought of starting the langar, which, he says, will continue until the protesters remain there.

Bindra says he wants to highlight the fraternity that exists between Sikhs and Muslims. His act is to turn the slogan of “Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai apas may hai bhai bhai ” [we are all one] into a reality.

Bindra says the police and the local administration have tried to disrupt the langar, and one day they took away all the utensils. Still, he made sure the langar continued, though at a modest level. The food is prepared in the parking area in the vicinity of the protest site and then distributed. The cause, he believes, is for the wider humanity.