When & how did Jantar Mantar become Delhi's protest site. The lane near the 18th-century astronomical observatory Jantar Mantar wasn't always Delhi's protest hotspot. It was only in 1993 that the Congress-led government banned gatherings at the Boat Club lawns near India Gate after the 1988 farmers' protest and the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid movement. The government denotified Jantar Mantar as a protest site amid CJP and I.N.D.I.A bloc protests.