If you can’t make the protesters disappear, make the venue disappear.
The Narendra Modi government on Monday de-notified Jantar Mantar — the vibrant amphitheatre of dissent barely 1.5km from Parliament and the site of its biggest recent humbling — as a “designated” protest venue amid surging street anger at alleged electoral fraud.
Delhi Police announced three new protest sites as alternatives that are farther away from the seat of power: the Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and the CBD Ground.
Over the past 10 days, the government had prevented Cockroach Janta Party, student and Opposition demonstrators from reaching Jantar Mantar by triggering a security lockdown marked by mass detentions, heavy barricading and the rough treatment of even women protesters.
Monday’s move seemed an attempt at a permanent solution.
“Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, had constituted a Committee to examine alternative proper venues for citizen’s right for organising protest/ demonstrations in place of the existing ‘designated site’. Based on the Committee’s recommendations, Jantar Mantar as a protest venue has been de-notified,” police commissioner Anurag Kumar said in a notice.
Saurav Das, co-convener of the CJP, said “we do not accept this arbitrary decision” and declared that “ab poora desh Jantar Mantar ban raha hai (The whole country is now turning into Jantar Mantar)!” The Congress called it a sign of the government’s “panic”.
Das and his colleague Ashutosh Ranka had visited Parliament Street police station in the morning to seek permission for a peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar.
“30 minutes after we went to Delhi police asking for a date when we can go to Jantar Mantar, Jantar Mantar was denotified as a protest site,” Ranka posted on X.
“Why is Narendra Modi scared of Jantar Mantar? The Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. Did the Ministry of Home Affairs consult with the people of India? Were any stakeholders consulted? Were any organisations consulted?” Das tweeted.
Jantar Mantar had become an emblem of success for anti-government protesters in July this year when a 36-day, CJP-led Gen Z agitation against exam paper leaks forced the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The designated protest venue had over the past three decades drawn diverse demonstrators from across the country: farmers, students, civil rights groups, trade union activists and ethnic groups, among others.
New sites
Among the alternative protest zones announced, the Ramlila Ground in Central Delhi — the venue of Phase II of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption protest of 2011 that heralded the end of the UPA government — is about 4km from Jantar Mantar.
The other two are in the city’s periphery: the CBD Ground in East Delhi is about 12km from Jantar Mantar while the Burari Ground, on the outskirts of North Delhi, is about 21km away.
All these three sites regularly host cultural events and are located in densely commercial and residential neighbourhoods. Large protests there can put off local communities and businesses.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj underscored that the Ramlila Maidan was already “occupied” — structures had been built there for Ramlila performances this Navratri season.
“Govt played another fraud with its citizens. The Ramleela Maidan is occupied with two Ramleelas. How can one hold protest here?” he tweeted. “Do they want to create chaos?”
In a post on X, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said: “It is a definite sign of the extreme panic that has gripped the PM-HM duo…. The poisonous pair is embattled and we have seen in the past few days how brutally they have dealt with peaceful public protests. Democracy no longer matters for them. It is all a matter of Demokursi.”
History
Jantar Mantar began its 300-year-old history as a tribute to Indians’ thirst for knowledge. In 1724, the ruler of Amber, Sawai Jai Singh II, built an observatory there.
Even in the early 1990s, the capital’s protest zone was not Jantar Mantar but the Boat Club area along Rajpath, within sight of Rashtrapati Bhavan, North Block and South Block, and just about 500 metres from Parliament.
However, assemblies were banned there in 1993 after the BJP tried to lay siege to Parliament following the Babri Masjid demolition, seeking a mandate in favour of a Ram temple.
There was no ordinance or official declaration but Jantar Mantar Road, which connects Tolstoy Road to the Ashoka Road roundabout, emerged as the new protest hotspot.
Some of the prominent protests Jantar Mantar witnessed in recent times:
- Anna Hazare’s five-day April 2011 hunger strike seeking a strong anti-corruption ombudsman forced the UPA government to agree to form a joint drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill. (This was followed by a 12-day protest by Hazare in August at the Ramlila Ground against what he considered a ‘weak’ bill.)
- In 2017, farmers from Tamil Nadu held sit-ins, bringing with them skulls of fellow farmers who had allegedly committed suicide because of their debt burden.
- The country’s top wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, led a months-long demonstration in 2023, accusing the then Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP parliamentarian Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexually harassing some women wrestlers.
- In December 2019, a large crowd gathered at the site to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
In October 2017, the National Green Tribunal urged the Supreme Court to ban demonstrations at Jantar Mantar citing noise pollution and the piling of garbage. It recommended that the protests be shifted to the Ramlila Ground.
In July 2018, the apex court ruled against a total ban on protests at Jantar Mantar, but said such programmes must take place between 10am and 5pm, and the gatherings cannot exceed 1,000.