Jantar Mantar starts getting its voice back

NEW DELHI: After a lull of 10 months, slogans rang out again at Jantar Mantar. “Jis desh ka sainik sadko par, us desh ka durbhagya hai”, shouted the two dozen ex-servicemen agitating for one pension for one rank. On the very first day of being reopened to protestors, Major-General Satbir Singh (retd) led the members of the United Front of Ex-Servicemen on their 1,136th day of demonstration on OROP, saying they did not need fresh permission from the cops.
“Even when protests were banned here, we came and sat on the pavements,” Singh said. “We will need to install a tent now, but we will wait for the police to formulate new guidelines as directed by the court.”

Near the intersection of Jantar Mantar Marg and Sansad Marg, hundreds of Buddhist protesters led by some monks demanded a separate personal law for the community. Brought there by the All India Action Committee for Buddhist Law, the crowd carried placards demanding, among others, Buddhist control of the Mahabodhi temple in Gaya. Bhante Kamalsheel, a monk from Lucknow, said they had gathered near Parliament to fight for their rights. “The people entrusted with implementing the Constitution of Baba Saheb Ambedkar sit there. Where else would we go? We have heard the Prime Minister’s mann ki baat, he should hear ours too,” he said.

Left groups held a mini-rally to “stop murder of democracy in Tripura and Bengal”, while the contractual employees of All India Radio agitated for permanent employment.

Police said that Jantar Mantar and Ramlila Maidan would be the venues for bigger agitations because only “innocuous” protests and candlelight marches with low threat perception will be allowed at Boat Club. “Applications for holding protests will have to be submitted at the Parliament Street police station and we will decide who gets which place,” an officer said.