India, Oct. 13 -- For 33 years, an 18th-century astronomical observatory in the heart of Delhi functioned as a lighthouse for causes big and small - former soldiers demanding parity in pensions, a woman on hunger strike spotlighting army excesses, sexual violence victims hoping for justice, queer people dreaming of dignity, and a generation imagining a future free of corruption.

In the aftermath of the sprawling NEET agitation this summer that forced the education minister's resignation and the ongoing stir against chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, police have denotified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site, ending its standing as the country's most iconic site for dissent, all within a stone's throw of the corridors of po...