CJP protest shines spotlight on Jantar Mantar's history of dissent

New Delhi: From a maharaja's observatory built to track the movement of the stars to the road beside it that has become India's best-known address for democratic dissent, Jantar Mantar has lived many lives.

As the ongoing Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) agitation draws massive crowds, the story of how the historic landmark lent its name to the capital's protest site is once again in focus.

Long before the adjoining road became known for protests, Jantar Mantar was built in 1731 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II during the reign of Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah. One of the five observatories built by the Rajput ruler across India, it was designed to study the movement of celestial bodies and improve astronomical calculations.


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Historian Rana Safvi, in her book 'Shahjahanabad: The Living City of Old Delhi', said the observatory houses giant masonry instruments such as the Samrat Yantra, Jai Prakash, Ram Yantra and Misra Yantra, which were used to measure time, track the movement of the sun and planets, and calculate astronomical positions.

Over the centuries, the observatory's location in the heart of the capital, close to Parliament, government offices and Connaught Place, gradually gave the adjoining road a different identity -- although it was not always Delhi's principal protest venue.

For decades after Independence, the capital's biggest demonstrations were held at the Boat Club lawns near the India Gate, while many groups also camped behind the Red Fort for days or weeks waiting for ministers to hear their demands.

The Supreme Court in a 2018 judgement noted that the practice changed after the massive farmers' agitation led by Mahendra Singh Tikait in the late 1980s.

Citing security and public order concerns, authorities gradually restricted demonstrations at Boat Club and, by 1993, Jantar Mantar Road had emerged as the designated venue in central Delhi where people could stage dharnas and demonstrations.

As trade unions, farmers, students, pensioners, ex-servicemen, displaced communities, activists and families seeking justice increasingly gathered there, the road adjoining the 18th-century observatory evolved into the country's most recognisable address for peaceful protest.

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That arrangement continued for nearly 25 years before residents of Jantar Mantar Road approached the National Green Tribunal, arguing that the residential neighbourhood had effectively become a permanent protest site. They complained that demonstrators often stayed for weeks or months, erected temporary structures and tents, used loudspeakers, left behind garbage and disrupted daily life.

Accepting the residents' plea, the National Green Tribunal in October 2017 ordered that protests be stopped at Jantar Mantar and be shifted to Ramlila Maidan.

The order, however, was challenged before the Supreme Court by the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), farmers' organisations, the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement and others.

They argued that a blanket ban on protests violated citizens' fundamental right to peacefully assemble and would move demonstrations away from Parliament and the seat of government, making them less visible and more difficult, particularly for poorer protesters.

On July 23, 2018, the Supreme Court struck a balance between the competing rights. It held that while residents were entitled to peace and a clean environment, citizens also had a fundamental right to peaceful protest. Instead of completely prohibiting demonstrations at Jantar Mantar, the court directed authorities to regulate them through a framework of guidelines.

Today, various guidelines are designated to protest at Jantar Mantar Road as the venue for protests of up to 1,000 people, while larger gatherings were to be held at Ramlila Maidan. It also made prior police permission mandatory and laid down conditions relating to crowd size, duration, sanitation, noise levels, traffic management, public order and organisers' responsibilities.

Historian Sohail Hashmi said Delhi's tradition of public protest stretches back decades. "Delhi has always had a tradition of public protests. In the 1960s, large demonstrations would fill the stretch from Boat Club to India Gate, while many protesters camped behind the Red Fort for days or even weeks until ministers came to hear their demands," he told PTI.

"Jantar Mantar has always been a symbol of democratic dissent. In the early 1990s, citing security and public order concerns, the government restricted protests to the much smaller Jantar Mantar site. People continued to protest there, but mostly in small groups or as individuals over different issues," he said.

Referring to the ongoing CJP agitation, Hashmi said, "What makes this protest different is the scale and the duration. Such a large mobilisation, sustained over a long period at Jantar Mantar, is something we have not seen before. It could be the first protest that has seen such massive gatherings at the site in recent decades."

Nearly three centuries after Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II built Jantar Mantar to observe the skies, the observatory continues to stand as a monument to scientific inquiry.

Beside it, the road that borrowed its name has become one of India's most enduring spaces for democratic expression, where generations of citizens have gathered to seek justice, press for change, make themselves heard and protests that changes the country's politics.