Jantar Mantar in central Delhi is no longer the officially designated venue for protests and demonstrations in the national capital.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has instead designated three new venues for protests in Delhi: Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground, and CBD Ground.
The decision comes at a time when Opposition parties, civil society groups such as the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), and student organisations, including the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), held protests and marches around Jantar Mantar.
Jantar Mantar, originally an 18th-century observatory, would rather ring a dissent bell. The venue is significant because it brought public dissent within sight of political power.
Located in central Delhi, close to Parliament and key government offices, it became one of India’s most recognisable venues for protests, sit-ins and hunger strikes. And its importance goes beyond geography: for decades, it has offered citizens, farmers, workers, students and political groups a platform to make their grievances visible and put pressure on those in power.
Groups that would otherwise struggle to attract political attention would gather here, raise slogans and bring their concerns into public debate. From the 2011, hunger strile by social activist Anna Hazare to the famous skull protests by the farmers of Tamil Nadu, Jantar Mantar was synonymous with public demonstrations for several decades.
Jantar Mantar in the heart of the national capital has been the official site for protests since 1980s. Before this venue, protests were held in the Boat Club, in the heart of the capital, closer to North Block, South Block and Parliament.
But in October 1988, over five lakh farmers led by farm leader Mahendra Singh Tikait gathered at Boat Club. Years later, in the early 1990s, when the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid movement gripped the country, the Congress-led government, already rattled by the farmers’ protest, banned gatherings at the Boat Club.
Jantar Mantar was eventually designated as a protest site in 1993. The venue was ideal for managing crowds as the two main entry and exit points were easier to manage.
Over the years, the stretch of road connecting Tolstoy Road to the Ashoka Road roundabout became the only place in New Delhi where Section 144 was not imposed.
In October 2017, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) appealed to the Supreme Court to ban protests at Jantar Mantar after some area residents argued that they had to endure noise pollution and unhygienic conditions.
The tribunal asked the authorities to shift the protesters to an alternative site, Ramlila Maidan, about 4 km away. Ramlila Maidan is now one of the three protest sites announced officially.
The tribunal cited three grounds while issuing these directions: there is no executive order demarcating Jantar Mantar as a ‘protest site’; it’s marked as a ‘residential area’ in the Delhi Master Plan; and the agitations caused noise pollution.
In July 2018, however, the Supreme Court ruled against a total ban on protests in the Jantar Mantar and Boat Club area, subject to regulations governing how they are organised and the number of people attending.
Among the most prominent demonstrations at Jantar Mantar in recent times was the one by the country’s top wrestlers against the Wrestling Federation of India chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, in 2023.
Olympic medallists Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia led a months-long sit-in, accusing Singh of sexual harassment and demanding his arrest. The protest drew nationwide attention and became one of the most high-profile public agitations in recent years.
Recently, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) held a massive protest against Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at Jantar Mantar over paper leaks. Pradhan eventually resigned in July.
In April 2011, social activist Anna Hazare began a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar for a Jan Lokpal law. Three months later, Hazare resumed his fast and since the crowds had outgrown the road. The venue this time was Ramlila Maidan. Anna Hazare is believed to have played a part in the unseating of Manmohan Singh’s Congress-led UPA government.
Between March and April 2017, debt-ridden farmers from Tamil Nadu protested here for 40 days and demanded a ₹40,000-crore drought relief package, a debt waiver, and the Centre’s setting up of the Cauvery Management Board. They carried out dramatic protests, including using skulls, holding dead rats in their mouths to indicate that they will be forced to eat rodents if the situation worsens.
Jantar Mantar is a centrally located stretch of road near Lutyens’ Delhi zone. The location is less than two kilometres from the Parliament, North and South Block which makes it even more significant and strategic location for those who want their message to be heard.
The Prime Minister’s official residence on Lok Kalyan Marg is also not very far, and so are the main markets and key ministries. No wonder, Time magazine described Jantar Mantar as a “marketplace of grievances” in 2008.
‘Marketplace of grievances’ is a metaphor for a space — political, social or public — where different groups and individuals bring their complaints, frustrations, perceived injustices and demands, often competing for attention, recognition or redress.
In simple terms, it is a place where everyone has a grievance to air, and different groups compete to have their grievances heard and addressed.
In politics, it refers to a space where political parties, communities and interest groups highlight their grievances to mobilise support or pressure the incumbent government.
