From JP to Nirbhaya: The Delhi protests that changed India

JP Movement or Bihar Movement (1974–75)

The JP Movement, or Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution), began as a student-led agitation in Bihar against corruption, inflation, unemployment, and administrative misrule before growing into a nationwide challenge to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government.

Led by veteran socialist Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), the movement gained momentum after police firing on demonstrators and the arrest of thousands of activists. JP urged students to boycott classes, demanded the dissolution of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, and advocated peaceful mass mobilisation against corruption. As the movement spread, Delhi became its political nerve centre, with JP’s massive rally at Ramlila Maidan in June 1975 intensifying pressure on the government.

The movement fundamentally altered India’s political trajectory. Hours after JP’s Ramlila Maidan rally, Indira Gandhi declared a nationwide Emergency on the evening of June 25, 1975, suspending civil liberties, censoring the press and imprisoning opposition leaders, including JP.

When the Emergency was lifted in 1977, the opposition united under JP’s moral influence and inspiration to form the Janata Party, which defeated Congress in the general election, the first time a non-Congress government came to power at the centre.

The JP Movement thus became a defining moment in India’s democratic history, demonstrating the capacity of mass protest to reshape national politics.

Mandal Commission protests (1990)

The Mandal Commission protests erupted in 1990 after Prime Minister V P Singh announced the implementation of its recommendation to reserve 27 per cent of Central government jobs for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The Mandal Commission, constituted in 1979 under the Morarji Desai government, had been tasked with identifying socially and educationally backward classes and recommending measures to improve their representation in public employment.

With the new quota, reservations in central government jobs rose to 49.5 per cent. While the decision was welcomed by groups seeking greater social justice, it triggered widespread protests, particularly among students and upper-caste youth, who argued that reservations undermined merit and reduced employment opportunities. Demonstrations, strikes and road blockades spread across northern India, with Delhi emerging as the focal point of the agitation.

The protests became one of the most turbulent student-led movements in India. They were marked by violent clashes, disruptions to public life and several instances of self-immolation, the most widely remembered being the attempt by Delhi University commerce student Rajiv Goswami in September 1990, which became a defining image of the agitation.

Although the protests failed to reverse the policy, they reshaped India’s political landscape by cementing caste-based affirmative action as a central electoral and governance issue. The implementation of the Mandal Commission accelerated the rise of OBC-led regional parties, transformed social justice politics, and permanently altered debates over representation, equality and merit in India’s public institutions.

Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement (2011)

The anti-corruption movement led by social activist Anna Hazare emerged against the backdrop of mounting public anger over endemic corruption in India, fuelled by a series of high-profile scandals, including the alleged 2010 Commonwealth Games scam.

Hazare demanded a stronger Jan Lokpal Bill, an independent anti-corruption ombudsman with the power to investigate politicians and public officials, and sought the formation of a joint drafting committee comprising government representatives and members of civil society.

After the government rejected this demand, Hazare began an indefinite hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on April 5, 2011. The protest, organised under the banner of India Against Corruption, quickly grew into a nationwide movement. As public pressure mounted, Hazare shifted his second fast to Ramlila Maidan in August, turning the Capital into the epicentre of one of India’s largest anti-corruption campaigns.

The movement forced the government to negotiate with Hazare’s team and, after his initial fast, on April 9, 2011, agreed to a joint drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill. Parliament later debated the campaign’s key demands, and althoughnegotiations stalled, sustained public pressure kept anti-corruption at the forefront of national politics. The agitation also transformed Delhi’s political landscape.

A split within Team Anna over entering electoral politics led Arvind Kejriwal to form the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2012, which also reshaped the Capital’s politics.

While Parliament eventually enacted the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act in 2013, many activists argued it fell short of the original Jan Lokpal proposal. Even so, the movement demonstrated the power of peaceful mass mobilisation to influence legislation, political discourse and governance.

Nirbhaya protests (2012–13)

The brutal gang rape and assault of a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern in a moving bus in South Delhi on December 16, 2012, triggered one of the largest spontaneous public protests in India. As the victim battled for her life, thousands of students, women’s groups and ordinary citizens poured onto the streets of Delhi, converging at India Gate, Raisina Hill, and Jantar Mantar.

The demonstrations, largely led by young people, demanded justice for the victim, who later died, and stronger measures to ensure women’s safety. Protesters braved water cannons, tear gas and police barricades. The movement, amplified by social media, transformed women’s safety from a recurring concern into a national political issue, with governments and political parties coming under unprecedented public scrutiny.

The protests produced one of the most significant legal overhauls in India’s criminal justice system. Within weeks, the government constituted the Justice J S Verma Committee to recommend reforms, leading to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, which expanded the definition of sexual offences and, for the first time, introduced the death penalty where rape resulted in death or left the victim in a persistent vegetative state.

The government also established the Nirbhaya Fund to finance women’s safety initiatives, launched Delhi’s 181 women’s helpline and strengthened institutional mechanisms for responding to gender-based violence. More broadly, the protests reshaped public discourse, encouraging greater public reporting and discussion, and making women’s safety a central electoral and policy issue.

When the four convicts were executed in March 2020, the case marked the end of a legal battle that had begun with a protest movement that fundamentally changed India’s conversation on gender justice.

Anti-CAA protests (2019)

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019, triggered one of the largest protest movements in recent Indian history, with Delhi emerging as its epicentre.

The law amended the Citizenship Act, 1955, to provide a fast-tracked route to Indian citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who had entered India before December 31, 2014. The exclusion of Muslims from the list of eligible communities, coupled with the Centre’s intention to implement a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC), fuelled fears that the new citizenship framework was discriminatory.

Students at Jamia Milia Islamia were among the first to take to the streets, and following clashes with police, protests spread rapidly across Delhi. The women-led sit-in at Shaheen Bagh became the defining image of the movement, transforming a neighbourhood protest into a nationwide symbol of constitutional dissent.

The protests dominated national politics for months, drawing widespread participation from students, civil society groups, academics, and artists, while inspiring similar demonstrations across India and abroad. They also sparked a larger public debate on secularism, citizenship, and the constitutional guarantee of equality. Although the protests did not lead to the repeal of the CAA, they significantly influenced public discourse and established Shaheen Bagh as a landmark in India’s history of peaceful protests.

The government notified the rules for implementing the Act only in March 2024, more than four years after it was passed and began granting citizenship under the law in May 2024, just ahead of the general election, a move that drew criticism from Opposition parties over its timing. While the legislation remained in force, the movement demonstrated the enduring capacity of citizen-led mobilisation to shape conversation on rights, identity and democracy.

Farmers’ protests (2020-21)

The movement also became one of India’s longest and largest mass protests, drawing national and international attention to agrarian distress and agricultural reforms.

The farmers’ protest erupted in 2020 after Parliament passed three farm laws aimed at liberalising agricultural marketing by allowing farmers to sell produce outside government-regulated markets. While the Centre argued the reforms would expand market access and attract private investment, several farmer unions, particularly from Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, feared they would gradually undermine the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system and increase corporate control over agriculture.

Following months of protests in Punjab, the unions launched the Dilli Chalo march in November 2020, with thousands of farmers heading towards the national capital. Prevented from entering Delhi by police barricades, tear gas and water cannons, thousands of farmers set up camps at the Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur borders, turning them into the epicentre of a year-long agitation marked by nationwide Bharat Bandhs, Rail Roko campaigns, and tractor rallies.

After nearly a year of sustained mobilisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repeal of the three farm laws on November 19, 2021, with Parliament formally withdrawing them later that month, a rare instance of the Union government reversing major legislation in response to public protest.

Although farmers’ unions continued to demand a legal guarantee for MSP and other reforms, the agitation demonstrated the political influence of sustained, organised mobilisation and reaffirmed Delhi’s borders as a powerful symbol of democratic dissent in contemporary India.

History suggests that not every demonstration results in immediate policy change, but many leave a lasting imprint on public discourse, governance, and democratic participation.

From the call for “Total Revolution” to the demand for accountability, justice, equality, and farmers’ rights, Delhi has repeatedly served as the country’s principal stage for democratic dissent. As fresh protests once again fill the Capital’s streets, they also add another chapter to the legacy that has shaped governments, influenced laws and reaffirmed the enduring power of citizens to make themselves heard.

Shefali Narula is an intern with Indianexpress.com