The CJP and the opposition have cried foul after the Delhi Police de-notified Jantar Mantar as a designated venue for protests. It has led to allegations that the move was aimed at making it harder for citizens to take their protests to the seat of power.
Demonstrators being detained by police personnel near Jantar Mantar on Saturday (PTI)
Out of sight, out of mind. With Jantar Mantar no longer on Delhi's protest map, the opposition has questioned whether the government's move aimed to make it harder for citizens to take their protests to the seat of power. Just a stone's throw from Parliament, Jantar Mantar offered a platform where even a small protest could grab attention. The three alternatives proposed by the government - Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground - are not only farther from Parliament, but also come with their own set of challenges.
The order by Delhi Police, which is under the Home Ministry, comes amid a charged political moment. Over the past week, central Delhi has been gripped by massive protests by the opposition and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. A Jantar Mantar 2.0 call by the CJP on October 10 saw an unprecedented crackdown. Two days later, the narrow stretch of road, the OG protest hub for over two decades, was denotified as a designated site for agitations.
OPPN CRIES FOUL OVER JANTAR MANTAR MOVE
The three new venues are far from the corridors of power. The opposition has raised a pertinent question. Why should protesters go to the outskirts of Delhi to voice their anger with central Delhi? This was flagged by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
"The BJP is deeply rattled and scared. It wants to keep people away from places where those in power sit, to shield itself from public anger," Yadav tweeted.
Akhilesh asserted that a space should have been allotted for protests on Lok Kalyan Marg itself. "That would have also helped justify the name. When the message reaches the highest seat of power directly, a solution would follow immediately," he said.
AAP's Delhi chief and former minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said the move only revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were "scared of Gen Z". Congress MP Jairam Ramesh quipped that for Modi and Shah, it is only a "matter of Demokursi".
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke underlined that the move would not silence dissent, but instead turn the entire country into Jantar Mantar.
"Tomorrow, PM Modi will denotify democracy itself. The dictator's problem was never the protest site. It was the very idea of people protesting," Dipke tweeted.
"Why not declare Mt Everest as the designated protest site?" tweeted CJP co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka.
On the other hand, the Delhi Police has argued that frequent protests at Jantar Mantar not only paralyse central Delhi - the seat of power - but also affect businesses and traders.
For the opposition, the issue is not merely about the change of venue, but whether dissent itself is being pushed to the margins.
WHICH ARE THE OTHER PROTEST SITES?
History shows a pattern.
Before Jantar Mantar became Delhi's protest hotspot, the tag belonged to the Boat Club lawns. It was within earshot of North Block, South Block and Parliament. In 1993, as the Babri Masjid movement gripped the country, the then Congress government banned protests at the Boat Club. That is how Jantar Mantar came into the picture.
Now, the address for dissent is further being pushed to Delhi's fringes.
Among the three, Ramlila Maidan is the closest to central Delhi. It is around 3 km from Jantar Mantar, but access to it comes at a massive cost.
To book the 12-acre ground, which can accommodate 50,000 people, one has to shell out Rs 50,000 a day, along with a refundable security deposit of Rs 55,000, according to a PTI report. An NOC certificate from the Delhi Police is also mandatory.
The other big challenge is availability. Ramlila Maidan remains booked most of the year for cultural events. During the festive season (October-December period), getting a date is a far cry. For example, only three dates are available for the rest of the year - December 29, 30 and 31.
This means, if the opposition or the CJP wants to hold an agitation nearest to Parliament, the earliest available date is December 29.
Now, let's go to the CBD Ground in East Delhi, which is around 10-12 km away.
The 12-acre venue in Shahdara, which can accommodate 15,000 people, is located in a densely populated residential area. The site is normally used for weddings and other cultural events. Holding any sort of protest here will be a traffic nightmare.
The other protest site, the Nirankari Ground in Burari, is farther away - about 22 km from Jantar Mantar. While the 50-acre site can accommodate up to 1 lakh people, the concern is its location.
It lies along the Delhi-Chandigarh Highway, and such a location is unlikely to attract big crowds like Jantar Mantar. It means less media spotlight as well.
A STRATEGIC MOVE?
In essence, none of the newly designated protest sites can match the optics that Jantar Mantar offered. Recent events have shown how a protest at Jantar Mantar can quickly paralyse the heart of the national capital.
By contrast, a protest in East Delhi or Burari is less likely to resonate in central Delhi, blunting its political impact and visibility. For Ramlila Maidan, cost and availability remain major hurdles.
Taken together, the shift could effectively give Delhi Police greater scope to defuse any protest before they gather momentum.
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