How Protests Have Shaped India: From Anti-Indian Incitement to Farm Laws
Activists challenging the Indian government over voter-list disputes carry a long legacy of protest.
NEW DELHI, India – Central parts of India's capital have been flooded in recent days by thousands of armed personnel, chasing young protesters demanding the resignation of the country's Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and trying to secure a site for a sit-in in New Delhi.
Since last week, several student organizations and a range of opposition parties have been engaged in a tactical standoff, with tens of thousands of people on Monday far outnumbering police personnel.
Protesters are demanding sweeping reforms and resignation of CEC Ginesh Kumar after revelations of election irregularities. The unrest represents the latest challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's power after his education minister was sacked by the same group of protesters less than three months ago.
The Modi government has tried to portray the protesters as representing anti-national interests that are working to slow India's growth or even possibly collapse it.
But India, the world's most populous country, has a long history of street protests, from its freedom struggles against the British Empire to the waves of movements during the 79-year Republic of India that have shaped its modern identity.
Rashid Kidwai, a political analyst in New Delhi and a former journalist, told Al Jazeera: "The government [of the day] has repeatedly opposed these protests, [and] sometimes engaged with them critically." "But the protests have been going on in a centralized manner in the Indian universities forever."
Here's a look at major street protests in India and how they often forced governments and powerful leaders to capitulate.
The newly formed Indian constitution provided for Hindi to replace English as the official language of the central government after a 15-year transition, which ended on 26 January 1965. Many people in South India, especially Tamil speakers in the then state of Madras (now Tamil Nadu), feared that this would marginalize them in government administration and employment, civil service examinations.
For the federal government of a vast and diverse country, the idea of a common official language of communication as a means of unification was attractive. But for many of the ancient communities that had agreed to come together under the Union of India, this led to fears of cultural dominance by the Hindi-speaking north of the country.
Demonstrations by several student organizations against the imposition of the Hindi language began, often leading to clashes with the police.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a regional political party supporting Tamil nationalism, led by CN Annadurai and M Karunanidhi, led the protests. In January 1965, Annadurai was arrested on the eve of an anti-India demonstration. Two young fans set themselves on fire and Indian books were burned.
The then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri assured the protesters that English would be used alongside Hindi. The DMK won the Tamil Nadu state election in 1967, ending the rule of the then-dominant Congress party in the state.
It was one of the defining moments of Indian federalism and regional identity in a young nation. English remains one of India's two official languages - and the Congress party has never returned to power alone in Tamil Nadu.
The JP movement – named after its socialist leader, Jayaprakash Narayan – began amid student protests against corruption, inflation and government mismanagement in the states of Gujarat and Bihar in 1973-74.
Soon, it became a nationwide challenge to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Congress government's dominance of Indian politics. Students, civil society groups, trade unions and opposition parties subsequently joined the protests.
Narayan known as "Sampuran Kranti" or "Complete Revolution" a slogan that still rings in India.
This movement set the stage for the National Emergency that Gandhi declared on June 25, 1975, suspending civil liberties and censoring the press. After the Emergency ended, the opposition parties united and defeated the Congress in the 1977 general elections, ending Gandhi's uninterrupted reign and giving India its first non-Congress government.
A full-blown revolution did not materialize as Narayan had envisioned, but the movement fundamentally changed opposition politics—showing that no leader was above the electoral consequences of mass opposition. Many leaders who emerged from this movement became state chief ministers and prominent federal ministers.
In August 1990, the then Prime Minister, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, announced that his government would implement the recommendations of a panel formed more than a decade earlier under the leadership of Member of Parliament Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal. The Mandal Commission, as it came to be known, recommended that 27 percent of central government jobs be reserved for people belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBCs), socially and educationally disadvantaged communities.
The decision sparked nationwide protests against reservation for privileged class students who feared quotas would reduce their access to government jobs.
Reservation advocates argued that concrete measures were needed to address entrenched class discrimination and unequal access to opportunities, while privileged class students framed their opposition on merit.
More than 100 students tried to commit suicide and more than 60 people succeeded in these protests.
In 1992, the Supreme Court upheld 27 percent OBC reservation in central government employment, without considering the relatively financially better off "creamy layer" in the communities.
Protests against liberalization, globalization (early 1990s)
Rather than a unified campaign, the protests stemmed from a series of labor protests and strikes against India's economic reforms that began in 1991 under then-Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, who became Prime Minister in 2004.
These reforms eased restrictions on private enterprise and opened up more sectors to foreign investment. Unions worried that privatization and easier business closures would lead to job losses, weakened collective bargaining and reduced protections for workers.
Leftist political parties supported many of these protests. But the protests could not prevent the continuation of the reform program.
Subsequent governments continued to expand private sector participation, reduce investment in state-owned enterprises, and reform labor regulations.
Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement (2011)
The movement erupted amid public anger over major corruption scandals involving the Congress-led coalition government, including the controversy over the licensing of the country's 2G spectrum and allegations related to preparations for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, held in New Delhi.
Activists called for a strong law with an independent anti-corruption ombudsman empowered to investigate and punish corruption involving public officials.
Social activist Anna Hazare led the movement through a hunger strike, which was also attended by activists like Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan. Its demonstrations drew large crowds across the country.
Parliament passed a law in December 2013 that created a legal framework for an anti-corruption watchdog. But more than a decade later, its impact is minimal.
The Budd Movement There is disagreement about whether activists should enter electoral politics or not. Kejriwal broke away in 2012 and founded the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and was twice elected as the Chief Minister of the Delhi government.
The movement's legacy is largely overshadowed today by Kejriwal, who is now in opposition after Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won last year's Delhi state election.
Protests after the gang rape "Nirbhaya" (2012)
On December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old paramedic student was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus in New Delhi. He died on December 29 during treatment. According to Indian law, the names of rape victims cannot be made public. So she was widely called as 'Nirbhaya' meaning fearless in Hindi.
The crime sparked widespread protests against sexual violence, unsafe public spaces, inadequate policing and the treatment of women in the country. The protesters demanded justice for the victim and fundamental changes in the way the authorities handle rape cases.
Students, youth, women's rights activists, and ordinary residents mobilized in Delhi, including around India Gate and other key locations.
Four adult defendants were found guilty and sentenced to death. They were executed in 2020.