Student Protest Stage Dismantled at Jantar Mantar After 36 Days
For 36 days, a makeshift stage at Jantar Mantar served as the central platform for the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) agitation, a student-led protest. On Saturday, hours after the protest was officially called off, volunteers began dismantling the structure sheet by sheet and banner by banner.
Once the prominent faces of the protest had bid farewell, volunteers removed the cloth backdrop, folded flags and placards, unplugged loudspeakers, and packed away microphones. Workers loosened the ropes holding up the tarpaulin roof before taking apart the metal pipes and bamboo poles that formed the frame. Within hours, only a patch of flattened ground remained where thousands had gathered each day.
As the structure came down, emotions ran high among those who stayed back. A few people at the spot raised slogans of “Jai Bheem”. Shopkeepers who sold dosa and idli behind the stage also came to bid farewell to the structure.
For over a month, the makeshift stage had functioned as the protest’s command centre. From this platform, student leaders and members of the CJP addressed supporters, announced programmes, coordinated volunteers, and led slogan-shouting that reverberated across Jantar Mantar. The stage also became the setting for hunger strikes, cultural performances, and daily briefings.
This was not the first time the stage had come down. On March 20, after students marching towards Parliament were stopped by the police and later lathi-charged at Jantar Mantar, the structure was dismantled amid the crackdown, only to be rebuilt the same night as the protest resumed.
The stage also witnessed some of the movement’s defining moments. It was from here that the police detained climate activist Sonam Wangchuk before he was taken to Safdarjung Hospital. It also became a place where students, battling Delhi’s heat and humidity, fell ill and returned to continue the agitation.
By late night, Jantar Mantar had largely returned to its familiar appearance. Yet, the vacant patch where the stage had stood for 36 days carried the memory of speeches, songs, debates, and slogans that shaped one of the capital’s longest student-led protests in recent months.
“The stage is gone, but what happened here will not be forgotten. This place gave us friendships that will last a lifetime. I met Govind from Lucknow here, and we have stood together at this protest for almost a month,” said Sooraj Gupta, a volunteer from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, as the last pole was loaded onto a truck.
