When It Comes To Student Protests, Both The Left And The Right Are Ruthless

The Jantar Mantar protests might well go down in the annals of history as India’s Tiananmen Square. They may come to be known as ‘20/7’, or the ‘Twentieth July Incident’, just as the Tiananmen Square protests are known as ‘6/4’, or the ‘June Fourth Incident’.

The Tiananmen Square protests were spearheaded by university students in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. The protests were held in the backdrop of a decade of economic growth that made China one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. However, the flip side of this growth was inflation, corruption, and unemployment. The student community felt that the liberalisation that the central government, run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), boasted was at the expense of individual rights and freedoms. They wanted economic reforms to be balanced with democratic reforms.

The trigger for the protests was the forced resignation of CCP general secretary Hu Yaobang, who, like the students, advocated democratic reforms. Hu Yaobang died in 1989, and his death became the catalyst for the Tiananmen Square protests.

Thousands of students gathered at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on the day of Hu Yaobang’s funeral, asking for reforms. The protests catapulted into one of the largest gatherings of students as more and more of them arrived at the Square. They were eventually joined by people from other spheres of life, who saw merit in the students’ demands.

Government Responds With Force

The Chinese government initially issued strict warnings to the protestors to disperse from the Square, but did not open fire. As the protests escalated, similar agitations began in Shanghai, Nanjing, Changsha, Chengdu, and other Chinese cities.

The government was in a quandary as to how to deal with the protestors. The moderates in the government, such as Hu Yaobang’s successor Zhao Ziyang, argued in favour of negotiations. However, they were in the minority. They were overruled by hardliners in the CCP that included Chinese premier Li Peng and senior leader Deng Xiaoping. They felt that the protests would lapse into anarchy if they did not suppress them by force.

Their first step was to declare martial law in Beijing and surround the city with troops. However, the protestors blocked the roads and did not allow the troops to reach Tiananmen Square. The soldiers then forced their way into the Square and opened fire on those who resisted them. The army indiscriminately shot at protestors in other cities as well. Terrified by the military action, the protestors dispersed, though some, like the “Tank Man”, stayed put, as tanks advanced on them and killed them.

In 1989, television wasn’t what it is today, and there was no social media. Yet, the international press painstakingly reported the event, calling it a massacre. Those who weren’t killed in the military firing were arrested. The Chinese government called them dissidents and gave them prison sentences varying from a few years of incarceration to life imprisonment. Some protestors were reportedly executed, while some others escaped from the country and sought asylum in the West.

Parallels With Jantar Mantar

Can parallels be drawn between the Tiananmen Square and Jantar Mantar protests?

Those who call the comparison far-fetched will be quick to point out that there was no massacre at Jantar Mantar, as there was at Tiananmen Square. Yet, several protestors were injured in the pellet gun firing, some reportedly very seriously, though, based on news reports, no one has so far died. An AK-47 gun was used on a protestor in Bihar.

But let’s not miss the wood for the trees. The Jantar Mantar protests, launched by the Cockroach Janta Party and supported by the AISA, were like the Tiananmen Square protests—student protests for democratic reforms. If the Tiananmen Square protestors had Hu Yaobang as their hero, the Jantar Mantar protestors had Sonam Wangchuk. The protests were pegged, no doubt, on examination paper leaks, but they were, in a broader sense, also about unemployment, unaccountability, inflation, corruption, and the threat to democracy that mark the twelve years of the BJP rule. The Indian government overlooks these concerns and boasts about India being one of the fastest-growing economies, exactly as the Chinese Communist Party did in 1989. Our students, like their Chinese allies, desire democratic reforms. As at Tiananmen Square, the protests at Jantar Mantar spread to other Indian cities and became a nation-wide movement.

Protests And Government Action

Resignations characterise both the Tiananmen Square and Jantar Mantar protests, though in the former case, they were the trigger, whereas in the latter case, they were the goal.

There are striking parallels in the handling of the protestors by their respective governments. The Indian government, like its Chinese counterpart in 1989, opted for paramilitary and police action in place of negotiation. Many in the ruling party called the protests “anarchy”, the very word that was used in China. CCP hardliners like Li Peng and Deng Xiaoping resemble BJP hardliners like Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

The CCP threw many of its protestors into jail. The Indian government hasn’t conceded to the demand of the Cockroach Janta Party to withdraw FIRs against all protestors, claiming that as many as 2,873 among them are murderers, rapists, drug addicts, and even terrorists. This means most of them will eventually land up behind bars.

It is unlikely that the Jantar Mantar protestors will be executed, as in China, for there is that thin line that separates the BJP from the CCP. The BJP is still a democracy, if only in name. But like in China, some of them, pushed to the wall, may seek asylum in the West. Commentators have called the BJP government “vindictive”, a government that doesn’t easily forget and forgive, although the Prime Minister has said on Instagram that he is forgiving his “misguided children”, infantilising them in the process. Already, the RSS has called the Cockroach Janta Party anti-national. So, will the deeds of Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das, and Ashutosh Ranka ever be forgotten? Or will they become marked men who will be hounded as long as the BJP is in power?

Questions Over Targeting Protestors

As such, there is a sort of witch-hunt against Dipke. His expensive American education is being questioned, considering he is only a disempowered Dalit. A PIL to that effect has been filed in a Gujarat court. Although Dipke has categorically denied that he is returning to Boston, will he leave that door open should they come after him, as they have gone after Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and so many others?

The Tiananmen Square and Jantar Mantar protests show that when it comes to student revolt, both the political left and the political right can be equally ruthless.

R. Raj Rao is a writer and professor.

Published on: Tuesday, August 18, 2026, 09:56 PM IST