You can de-notify protest spaces, not people’s ability to (re)produce them

The Delhi Police recently decided to de-notify Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site, following the removal of Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground. The decision is based on administrative concerns like public safety, traffic, and inconvenience to residents. However, the history of protest spaces in India reveals that despite attempts to remove designated sites, people manage to create new political spaces.

Historically, Rajpath lawns have hosted large demonstrations, and in 1988, Mahendra Singh Tikait led nearly half a million farmers to occupy the lawns, transforming the ceremonial landscape into a makeshift settlement. This was followed by the Narasimha Rao government's restriction of demonstrations in 1993, after the Babri Masjid demolition, which redirected protests towards Jantar Mantar.

Over the years, Jantar Mantar has become one of India's most recognisable political landmarks, despite the government's attempts at curbing mobilisation.

Governments often manage dissent by controlling its geography, placing distance between protesters and institutions of power. However, this management is based on a flawed perception that protest requires a pre-allocated place, rather than the emergence of political spaces through collective action. Examples such as Mahatma Gandhi's civil disobedience in public spaces, the Dandi March, the anti-CAA movement's Shaheen Bagh, and the Egyptian revolution's Tahrir Square show that political spaces are socially produced and can emerge anywhere people gather to act together.

The state's attempt to de-notify protest spaces does not diminish citizens' ability to produce new political spaces. While governments can suppress protest effectively, it is essential to recognise that new spaces will continue to appear elsewhere. Space is not a passive container of social life but a socially produced entity, and the ability to reinvent revolutionary geographies has been demonstrated time and again by citizens across various revolutions and movements.