New Delhi: For decades, Jantar Mantar has been more than a stretch of road where people gather with placards, raise slogans and sit on dharna. For many, it has been the place where a grievance that went unheard elsewhere could find an audience from national television cameras and newspaper reporters to the very people protesters wanted to hold accountable.
Mahendra Singh Tikait’s massive farmers’ mobilisation in 1988 became one of the defining episodes in the debate over large demonstrations in central Delhi. Anna Hazare ’s 2011 anti-corruption movement demanding Jan Lokpal Bill drew thousands. In 2015, military veterans held hunger strikes for One Rank, One Pension’s implementation. TN farmers staged a 41-day protest in 2017 to highlight agrarian distress, while prominent wrestlers chose the venue in 2023 to raise demands for action over allegations of sexual harassment against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh . In Oct 2017, NGT prohibited protests and loudspeakers amid complaints of noise, but SC restored the right to protest in July 2018.
That familiar address for dissent, however, has now lost its designated status as a protest venue after being de-notified by Delhi Police.
Anupam, who has led several protests at Jantar Mantar for youth causes and is now associated with Congress, said the recent protest was about more than the issue concerning CEC Gyanesh Kumar. Among the first protest held here was a major mobilisation in 1993, led by then DUSU president Ashish Sood along with 33 civil organisations, that brought thousands of students to the venue for a “Jail Bharo” campaign against Centre’s anti-student measures and economic policies. The change is not merely about shifting crowds from one location to another, but raises a larger question about what happens when a protest loses the visibility that came with its location. Protesters were asserting their right to demonstrate, but many were detained before they could reach the venue, he added. The history of protest venues in the capital offers a glimpse of how Jantar Mantar acquired this role. For decades after Independence, the Boat Club lawns near India Gate were a major gathering point, bringing protesters close to Parliament and govt’s principal offices. Over the years, the road became associated with causes that extended beyond student politics. Jantar Mantar’s place in history has not been uninterrupted.