Security heightened at Jantar Mantar in view of proposed anti-reservation protest

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

Thousands of protesters gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Friday (August 21, 2026) under the banner of Reservation Hatao Andolan (RHA), a CJP-style Instagram-page led mobilisation of anger against India’s reservation policy as it exists. The protesters called for an overhaul of the reservation system, demanding that quota in public education and employment solely be based on an income criteria rather than on socio-economic categories, and also raised demands like “one family, one reservation”, and called for the government to roll back the UGC’s 2026 caste-equity rules.

The movement began when a student, Harsh Dubey, started the RHA Instagram page while the student movement being led by the Cockroach Janta Party was demanding the resignation of erstwhile Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Soon after Mr. Pradhan’s resignation, Mr. Dubey said he had handed over control of the page to veteran anti-reservation and general category activists Anuradha Tiwari, Ajeet Bharti, and Neha Das.

The protests in Jantar Mantar on Friday (August 21) come amidst the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government reiterating India’s stance that reservations for socio-economic categories such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes were not a poverty alleviation scheme but a scheme meant to ensure the representation of marginalised communities that have suffered from social, economic, and educational backwardness for generations. Further, on Thursday (August 20), the Union government had told the Supreme Court that it was rethinking the 2026 UGC equity regulations, which had led to wave of protests in January this year as well.

On Friday (August 21) morning, the protesters, many of whom were mobilised by different organisations representing people from “general” castes such as Karni Sena and Ranbir Sena, arrived at Jantar Mantar despite public statements from the Delhi Police saying that no permission had been granted for a demonstration at this site. By noon on Friday (August 21), the Delhi Police released another statement saying the protest had been permitted but at Ramlila Ground.

However, the protesters, hundreds of whom had already gathered at Jantar Mantar, refused to leave and had a stand off with the security personnel guarding the Jantar Mantar protest site behind multiple layers of barricading. Around 2 p.m., even as protesters shouted slogans against reservation, chanted “UGC rollback”, blew conch shells and chanted ‘ Jai Shree Ram’ , security personnel opened the barricading, resulting in the protesters pouring into the Jantar Mantar site. By evening, the protesters had set up a stage with a banner that read: “Reservation Reform Satyagraha”.

The Delhi Police have not responded to questions about whether permission has been granted for the protest at Jantar Mantar site subsequently.

Alok Pratap Singh from Bihar’s Ranbir Sena told The Hindu , “There is a huge problem in the way we have let reservation system take over every aspect of politics.