How Jantar Mantar became Delhi’s designated protest stretch

Jantar Mantar’s role as Delhi’s best-known protest site began with a shift away from the Boat Club lawns, once the capital’s main ground for political rallies.

The lawns near Parliament and India Gate hosted major demonstrations through the early 1990s. In October 1988, lakhs of farmers led by Mahendra Singh Tikait and the Bharatiya Kisan Union stayed in the area for about a week, creating security and administrative strain across central Delhi.

As concerns grew around demonstrations linked to the Janata Morcha-Babri Masjid movement, the administration looked for another location for large gatherings. By 1993, Delhi Police had begun permitting major protests on Sansad Marg near Jantar Mantar, though there was no formal declaration naming it the city’s protest venue.

The dharnas take place on a designated road stretch beside the 18th-century observatory built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur, rather than inside the ASI-protected monument. The location keeps demonstrators close to Parliament, government offices and the media, but its smaller footprint and limited entry and exit points make barricading and crowd regulation easier than at the Boat Club lawns.

The site’s future is now part of the debate over an alternative protest venue.