Monday’s violence already figured as a motif among posters at the protest site, reading things such as ‘They are students, not terrorists’,.
New Delhi: Protesters continued to assemble in sizeable numbers at Jantar Mantar Road on Tuesday (July 21), joining the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led agitation demanding Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation a day after the movement reached a crescendo as thousands of people attempted to march to parliament to press their demand.
They were infamously pushed back by Delhi police personnel who lathi-charged and tear-gassed the crowd. The violence already became a motif in the posters that protesters held up at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday, reading things like ‘They are students, not terrorists’ and blaming Union home minister Amit Shah.
Below is a selection of photos by photographer and writer Nikhat Bhatty of the scenes of anger, solidarity and creativity visible at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday.
A protester holds up a poster at the Jantar Mantar protest site on July 21, 2026, a day after security personnel lathi-charged and tear-gassed protesters marching to parliament in central Delhi. Photo: Nikhat Bhatty.
Student activists of the All India Students Association and the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan sing at Jantar Mantar on July 21, 2026.
Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijit Dipke at Jantar Mantar on July 21, 2026.
A man holds up a poster deeming Union home minister Amit Shah – to whose ministry the Delhi police reports – responsible for the police violence against protesters on Monday.
Three supporters of the CJP-led youth protest sit at Jantar Mantar on July 21, 2026.
A man holds up a pocket edition of the Constitution – a popular symbol after the 2024 general election – at Jantar Mantar on July 21, 2026.
A man holds up a poster reading, in Hindi, ‘Those mothers and fathers whose blood did not boil, theirs is not blood but water’.
Supporters of the CJP-led youth protest chant slogans.
A man clad in Hindu religious attire eats at the protest site on July 21, 2026.
Two men join hands at Jantar Mantar on July 21, 2026.
Another individual holds up a pocket edition of the Constitution at Jantar Mantar on July 21, 2026.
Dipke speaks on the phone at Jantar Mantar on July 21, 2026.
All photos by Nikhat Bhatty.
This article went live on July twenty-second, two thousand twenty six, at seven minutes past four at night.
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