Closing The Loop
We talk about Jantar Mantar and Connaught Place.
Happy weekend! Every Saturday, we try to bring stories from the past week (and beyond) to a logical closure rather than rushing off to the next big thing. If you haven’t read these stories yet, now’s the perfect time to quickly catch up over a cup of chai!
Jantar Banter
Where should protesters protest? That’s the question on many minds this week.
The Delhi Police has announced that Jantar Mantar is no longer a “designated site” for protests. Why was this decision taken?
You might remember that Jantar Mantar was also the site of the July protests demanding accountability over examination paper leaks, which were followed by the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. We explained the controversy in “Diagnosing the NEET Leak” and covered Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike in “Hungry For Change”. Jantar Mantar has also hosted protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019 and was where Anna Hazare began his hunger strike demanding a Lokpal Bill in 2011, among many other demonstrations over the years.
But Jantar Mantar’s role as a protest site has not been without controversy. In 2017, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) called for protests to be stopped there, saying that noise pollution and inadequate sanitation affected local residents. A year later, the Supreme Court rejected a blanket ban on protests at the site and instead directed the police to frame rules to regulate them.*
So, where can protesters go now?
How should we look at the government’s latest notification? The government has its reasons, and protesters have their concerns. Is this about managing public spaces better, or making protests less effective? You be the judge.
Cannot Place
From Jantar Mantar, we move to another landmark of Delhi.
Yesterday, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had planned to hold a “Lehra Do Tiranga” march in the capital’s commercial hub, Connaught Place. The police denied permission by citing prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which were in force in Connaught Place and adjoining areas.
Critics have questioned the lack of publicly available information about these prohibitory orders, including the precise areas they cover and how long they will remain in force.*
But there’s another side to the story. Traders in and around Connaught Place have raised concerns that protests could affect their livelihoods, especially during the festive season. As one traders’ body put it: “They have a right to protest. We have a right to livelihood. Why don’t they go and protest at the approved protest sites?”*
How can people effectively protest against a government that has the power to regulate where and how they protest? When the government regulates protests, is it managing public spaces or managing dissent? And from the other perspective: how much disruption should businesses, commuters and other residents be expected to accommodate? What happens when two groups want to protest in the same place while arguing for completely opposite things?
If you’re out of the loop, that might have been a lot to take in! Don’t worry, we have explainers for all of these issues.
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Let’s start with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He has come under scrutiny amid allegations of irregularities and disagreements among the three Election Commissioners themselves. He has been accused of taking unilateral decisions without the approval of the other commissioners, even though the law requires decisions to be made by a majority. We explored the dispute in “A Vote of Confidence”.
The other controversy is over SIR, or Special Intensive Revision. It is essentially a voter list cleanup, and the idea is quite well-intentioned. After all, everyone who’s eligible should be included, and no one who’s ineligible should be on the list. But the way it has been implemented has stirred up a storm. Critics say it amounts to “mass disenfranchisement”. Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, took the allegations further. He accused the EC and the ruling BJP of perpetrating “a huge criminal fraud” and “vote theft” in elections. We explained SIR in our story “Election Roll-er Coaster”.
The 2023 law governing the selection of Election Commissioners has also come under scrutiny. This law says that the Election Commission will be selected by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister, and the Leader of the Opposition. This differs from the arrangement the Supreme Court had suggested before Parliament enacted the law. Critics argue that this will (continues to) give the government a decisive influence over appointments, potentially undermining the Election Commission’s independence. A Supreme Court judge recently observed that “even if the appointments are meritorious, the process does not pass the perception test”. We explained the issue in “Who Chooses India’s Election Umpires?”.
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Curious? Read or listen to why Jantar Mantar and Connaught Place are central to the ongoing protests in Delhi, on Dot.
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