More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Jul. 23, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – Crowds kept swelling at Jantar Mantar Thursday, even though not everyone came to "participate" in the agitation. Most of the people formed floating groups, who would stand beside a "performing cluster"--those shouting a variety of slogans, holding "colourful" placards, and permanently stationed at the protest site--and then move on to another one. Neither everyone is agitated even as they do feel that "things should change".

 

Poonam Chaudhary, 50, who came from Gurgaon with one of her sons, did not believe that students' protest will result in resignation of any minister. "I am not sure this protest will yield any results. There is no strong leader leading these youngsters. The Cockroach Party people are very new and inexperienced," she said, adding that the Narendra Modi's government has been "doing generally well" on all other fronts. "But on this issue, the government should have engaged with the protesting youth," she said.   

Dilnawaz, a psychology undergraduate at Jamia Millia Islamia, felt that education system should be reformed. "I do feel that there should be reform. That is why I came here," he said.

 

Three Class 11 girls of a government school in Mayur Vihar held placards with expletive slogans. "Our parents did not want us to come here, we came stealthily," one of the girls said. Asked who made those placards for them, another girl admitted with confidence that she did it.

 

In the morning, policemen were seen turning youngsters away at the Minto Bridge. They were apparently walking down from New Delhi Railway Station Metro head – the nearest Metro station to Connaught Place that was not shut. The authorities kept 16 Metro stations shut on Thursday as well.   

 

Meanwhile, the "regulars" at the protest went on with their work--sloganeering, cleaning, rotating plastic fans, distributing food, keeping an eye on the cops' movement--with a business-as-usual attitude even as hordes kept moving in and out of the protest site. Some of the men ran behind the motorbikes of two app-based food delivery guys who threaded their way through the crowds with their thumbs on horn buttons.  

 

Towards the evening, around 1700 IST, police and paramilitary personnel numbers on the Connaught Place end of Sansad Marg began to swell as more buses with security personnel arrived. Earlier, the local authorities told the New Delhi Traders Association to convey to shops in Connaught Place to down their shutters by 1830 IST to avoid any "unpleasant situation". Most shops started wrapping up by 1800 IST, some closed even earlier. The police presence in the inner circle was thin compared with the past few days, possibly due to greater concentration of forces near the protest site.  End

 

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.