The next big flashpoint? What demands at CJP's Jantar Mantar protest reveal

"My school tortures me a lot to study," a Class 8 student from Delhi's Patparganj told India Today Digital when asked why he had come to Jantar Mantar. Accompanied by a group of friends, the 14-year-old had little to do with the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) demand for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation over the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak and irregularities in the education system.Though the 14-year-old's demand was unique, there were different issues that had been highlighted by protesters at the CJP's protest site at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar.By the final days of the month-long agitation, Jantar Mantar was no longer just the epicentre of the CJP protest or social activist Sonam Wangchuk's indefinite hunger strike. It had evolved into something much larger. It became a magnet for people carrying grievances of every kind, many only loosely connected to the education movement that had first drawn national attention.Walking through the protest site, the demands changed every few metres. One group sought women's reservation in Parliament. Another protested about the lack of job opportunities. Some campaigned against the rushed implementation of the ethanol-blending programme, claiming it was damaging their vehicles.Opposition party workers joined students, sensing an opportunity to sharpen their attack on the Union government. Alongside them stood first-time protesters, curious visitors and ordinary citizens who believed Jantar Mantar had become the place where the government might finally hear them.In many ways, the designated protest site had begun to outgrow the movement that revived it. What started as a campaign against the education system had gradually become a platform for every unresolved frustration looking for an audience. By the time Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on Saturday (July 25), and the CJP called off its agitation, Jantar Mantar had become more than the venue of a student protest. It had briefly transformed into the country's loudest marketplace of dissent.With Dharmendra Pradhan resigning as the education minister, the protests have been called off, and now at Jantar Mantar no protests are being held.But what might be the next big issue that brings protesters to Jantar Mantar? Does the list of demands at the CJP protest give us a glimpse?CONGRESS AND SAMAJWADI PARTY WORKERS AT JANTAR MANTARAmong the CJP volunteers serving food, collecting garbage and helping manage the month-long protest were workers from the Indian National Congress's Seva Dal, the party's volunteer wing, who had joined the agitation in solidarity."I came from Kochi to take part in the protest," a Congress worker told India Today Digital. "The Congress's youth and student wings were the first to raise their voice against irregularities in the education system," he said, highlighting his party's role in the issue.When asked why the Congress's top leadership had not formally joined the CJP protest, he defended the party's stand."Rahul Gandhi ji came out on the streets and condemned the police brutality against students on July 20," he told India Today Digital."We are here because of the support and direction of the national leadership," he added.A little behind the CJP's main stage, another group caught attention. Dozens of people wearing the Samajwadi Party's signature red caps had gathered together."We are from Kannauj, the constituency of our leader Akhilesh Yadav," an elderly SP worker told India Today Digital."This government must go. Around 200 of us have come to Jantar Mantar," he said, making it clear that for many political workers, the student-led agitation had also become an opportunity to amplify the Opposition's campaign against the Union government.'WE NEED 33% WOMEN'S RESERVATION IN THE PARLIAMENT'Just outside Jantar Mantar, near Tolstoy Marg, two elderly women stood holding placards that had little to do with students' rights or the NEET controversy. Their demand was different. They sought 33% reservation for women in Parliament."We support the students, but it is equally important to raise the issue of women's equality in this country. Equality begins in politics," a 54-year-old member of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), the women's wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI), told India Today Digital."Our organisation has mobilised nearly 500 people for this protest. It is high time the government heard our demand and fulfilled it," another NFIW member said.The call for women's reservation was not confined to the road outside Jantar Mantar. Inside the protest site too, several women's organisations, including the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) India and the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), joined the demonstrations.Their slogans were different from those of the CJP. While students demanded accountability in the education system, these groups raised their voices for greater political representation and equal rights for women, reflecting how Jantar Mantar had evolved into a platform for multiple causes beyond the student movement.A BLIND MAN CAME ALONE, HOPING SOMEONE WOULD HEAR HIS PLEAThe demands were not limited to women's reservations either.Amid the sea of protesters stood 38-year-old Purshottam Puri, a visually impaired man who had travelled alone from Madhya Pradesh with just one demand — to get his monthly pension restored.For the past three months, Puri claimed, his pension had stopped arriving, pushing his family into financial distress. Undeterred, Puri boarded a train to Delhi by himself, believing Jantar Mantar was where unheard voices could finally find an audience."I have elderly parents who can no longer work," Puri told India Today Digital. "They receive a pension, and I also depend on my pension. That is how our family survives," he said.Puri's appeal was simple. "I request the government to hear my case and ensure that my pension is released," he told India Today Digital.ETHANOL-BLENDING COULD BECOME THE NEXT BIG ISSUEAround Puri stood people carrying placards demanding more employment opportunities, protesting the government's ethanol-blending programme, or raising entirely different grievances.One of the demands that had the potential to get a large section of the population to protest is the mandate to sell 20% ethanol-blended petrol.The Centre's push for mandatory ethanol blending is fast emerging as the next issue around which resistance is beginning to mobilise, with transporters, motorists and activists preparing to take their agitation to the streets.Inspired by the success of the CJP, a new satirical outfit named E20 Janta Party has stepped in, demanding consumers be given the option of buying 100% petrol and seeking the resignation of Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari. Resistance to the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme first surfaced at Jantar Mantar on July 5, when Team Bharat, an outfit led by entrepreneur and television personality Tehseen Poonawalla, organised a protest against the policy. Now, with the CJP agitation over, anti-ethanol activists appear keen to occupy the space left behind by the student movement.Tehseen Poonawalla has announced 'The Gaadi March' in New Delhi on July 31, signalling the beginning of a larger campaign against the Centre's ethanol policy.The Delhi Taxi and Tourist Transporters and Tour Operators Association has also announced a march to Parliament on August 4. The association on July 24 (Friday) said it would demand an independent scientific review of the ethanol-blending programme involving vehicle owners, consumers, transport operators, automobile manufacturers and technical experts before the policy is expanded further.The discontent was also visible during the CJP protest. Alongside placards demanding accountability over the education system were posters questioning ethanol-blended fuel, with several protesters arguing that the policy was harming vehicles and increasing maintenance costs.Some protesters even claimed that after Dharmendra Pradhan, the next political target of public protests should be Nitin Gadkari, who has become the face of India's E20 petrol push, and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, under whose ministry the ethanol-blending programme is being implemented.Whether the opposition to ethanol gathers the same momentum as the CJP movement remains to be seen. But with protest marches already planned and transport associations joining the campaign, New Delhi might soon witness another agitation, and this time over the fuel in India's vehicles rather than the future of its students.Today, there are no protesters at Jantar Mantar, no slogans echoing through Tolstoy Marg and no crowds spilling onto the pavements. Yet, for a few weeks, the protest site became more than the headquarters of a student movement. It became a national noticeboard of frustrations, where people arrived believing that if one voice had managed to make the government listen, perhaps theirs could too. Ethanol in petrol has the potential of becoming the next big issue of protest at Jantar Mantar.- EndsPublished By: Avinash KateelPublished On: Jul 27, 2026 07:00 IST