In 2014, the BJP came to power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ushering in what it called “Naya Bharat.” Over the following years, New Delhi witnessed repeated mass protests against government policies, from the JNU ‘sedition’ case to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and the farm laws. Critics argued that dissent was increasingly branded as “anti-national,” with activists, students, and intellectuals frequently portrayed as threats to the nation.The 2016 arrests of JNU student leaders, the Shaheen Bagh movement, the 2020 Delhi riots, the COVID-19 crisis, and the year-long farmers’ protest became defining moments of the period. Opponents accused the government of responding with police action, political rhetoric, and an unwillingness to engage in dialogue, while supporters maintained these measures were necessary for national security and reform. Controversies surrounding NEET, unemployment, and religious polarisation further intensified public debate.Questions about governance, accountability, and democratic freedoms remain central. Political philosopher Henry David Thoreau, in Civil Disobedience (1849), argued that individual conscience must prevail over unjust laws and that the best government is one that governs least. Ultimately, in a democracy, it is the electorate that decides whether power deserves renewal or change.Nothing says this more than the following images, which I have clicked through the years, of the protests mentioned above.A protest for the release of Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya at Delhi’s Barakhamba Road. The three had been held on ‘sedition’ charges. The site, beside Iran and Nepal embassies, had been considered sensitive in 2015.At Darya Ganj, now called Netaji Subhash Marg, an anti-CAA/ NRC protest in 2019.Barricades on the NH 9 the nodal connection of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh with the rest of the country to stop farmers marching to Delhi’s parliament in 2020.The site of the Northeast Delhi riots which the anti-CAA protests gave way to. It was triggered by BJP politicians hurling slurs at Muslim protesters and threatening to kill them.Destroyed cars after the Northeast Delhi riots which the anti-CAA protests gave way to. It was triggered by BJP politicians hurling slurs at Muslim protesters and threatening to kill them.Rightwing lawyers break Section 144 of the CrPC at New Delhi’s India Gate area in response to Kanhaiya Kumar’s case at Patiala house metropolitan court in 2015. They were given a police escort. The same lawyers hit an effigy.An ABVP protest against liberals, ‘urban naxals’ and the ‘Khan Market Gang,’ just after the last term was first used by PM Modi.An anti-CAA protest in New Delhi in 2019.An anti-CAA protest in New Delhi in 2019.Umar Khalid at a hunger strike in JNU in 2015.RAF personnel in gas masks in old Delhi during an anti-CAA/NRC protest in 2019.A ‘Ram Janmabhoomi Yatra’ in Delhi’s Ram Leela Maidan where abuses at Muslims and support for destroying the Jama Masjid was heard.Farmers protest in 2021 against the new farm laws. The laws were ultimately revoked.Protesters at Shaheen Bagh chant slogans in 2019.Two women stand before a man in a cockroach mask at Jantar Mantar in 2026.All photos by Shome Basu.