Delhi police shift protest sites away from city center
Delhi Police announced on 12 October that Jantar Mantar is no longer the officially designated venue for protests and demonstrations in the national capital. Authorities have instead designated three new sites: Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground, and CBD Ground in East Delhi. This shift comes as Opposition parties, civil society groups like the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), and student organisations such as the All India Students’ Association and the Students’ Federation of India plan protests around Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
The shift from Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar was designated a protest site by authorities after the venue of dissent was relocated from the Boat Club lawns three decades ago. Earlier, Delhi’s biggest rallies were held on the lawns near India Gate, within sight of North Block and South Block, which house the ministries. In 1988, when Mahendra Singh Tikait camped there for about a week with an estimated 5 lakh farmers, the then Rajiv Gandhi government accepted key demands such as electricity bill waivers and higher sugarcane prices. By 1993, the protest venue was officially moved to Jantar Mantar Road by administrative practice.
The city had already earmarked the Ramlila Maidan in historic Delhi and the Burari fields on the periphery for larger gatherings. The newest directive adds the CBD ground in Shahadra as a third alternative. The order lists these three locations as the official protest sites for the capital. According to Delhi Police, a separate, detailed and updated standard operating procedure for arranging demonstrations at each of the three venues will be released later.
Why the location matters
Jantar Mantar lies on a central road within Lutyens’ Delhi, situated less than two kilometres from Parliament as well as the North and South Blocks, giving it strategic importance for anyone seeking visibility. The Prime Minister’s residence on Lok Kalyan Marg, major markets and key ministries are also nearby. Time magazine labeled the site a “marketplace of grievances” in its 2008 coverage. In April 2011, activist Anna Hazare began a fast at Jantar Mantar demanding a Jan Lokpal law. Three months on, he moved his hunger strike to Ramlila Maidan because the crowd had outgrown the narrow road.
Geography of the new sites
The new sites chosen for protest are located in three different parts of Delhi. Ramlila Maidan is near the old city, Burari is on the city outskirts, and CBD Ground is in east Delhi. All three share one thing: they are away from the heart of the national capital and distant from corridors of power. Ramlila Maidan is a large ground in Old Delhi, traditionally used to stage the annual Ramlila.
The 10-acre open-air ground is located in New Delhi, situated strategically between the New Delhi Railway Station and Delhi Gate and has been regarded as the epicentre of India’s major political shifts. The ground is about three kilometres from Jantar Mantar, but the city’s traffic and congested roads make it practically distant from the power corridors. It won’t be easy for protesters to march towards Parliament or any other seats of power, as they did during the 20 July protest by CJP.
On 25 June 1975, Ramlila Maidan was the site of a rally against Indira Gandhi, just before the declaration of the Emergency, where Jayaprakash Narayan recited Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s famous poem ‘Singhasan Khali Karo Ki Janta Aati Hai’. The Anna movement of 2011 held here played a part in the unseating Manmohan Singh’s Congress-led UPA government. The other protest site, the Burari ground, is roughly 20 kilometres away from Central Delhi and the Parliament of India in outer Delhi.
Situated on the northern outskirts of the capital, the sprawling ground is chosen specifically to accommodate larger crowds while keeping everyday city traffic and central security zones uninterrupted and away from the Lutyens Zone. The third venue for protests, CBD Ground in Shahdara East Delhi, is about 12 kilometres away from the Parliament of India and central Delhi.
