For the last two and a half decades, Jantar Mantar has been much, much more than the astronomical observatory built by Raja Jai Singh II.Since the 1990s, this narrow Delhi lane has been the seat of India’s democratic dissent. I have photographed everyone from farmers and workers to students, refugees and human-rights activists here. Once relocated from the Boat Club after massive farmer mobilisations, protests here became a powerful voice against injustice and state high-handedness. Despite restrictions, police action and repeated attempts to silence demonstrators, the lane kept its pulse alive.These images document these decades of resistance. Now, as Jantar Mantar is at risk of falling silent again since the government has ‘denotified’ it as a protest site, will its clock ever stop recording dissent?An ABVP protest in 2015 against liberal thinkers and in the memory of those killed in the parliament attack. The BJP was in power then.An ABVP protest in 2015 against liberal thinkers and in the memory of those killed in the parliament attack. The BJP was in power then.A protest to make the cow the national animal way back in the year 2000.AISA leader Kawalpreet Kaur at a protest against the sedition law in 2000.CPI and CPI(M) leaders D. Raja and Brinda Karat lead a protest to Jantar Mantar during the UPA rule. The Left would eventually break away from the alliance.A Left protest two decades ago.A woman protests against the CAA and NRC in 2019.People protest against the CAA and NRC in 2019.Earlier, the NDMC used to ensure that water was in steady supply. Now, we hear reports of water sellers restricted.A Myanmarese refugee protests against former Junta head Senior General Than Shwe.Delhi police makes a human chain from the Ramlila Grounds to Jantar Mantar in 2004.Protests would often see entire families turning up. The possibility of police violence was little.Left leaders in Jantar Mantar, among them Prakash Karat and CPI’s AB Bardhan.Tribal protesters at a CPI protest.Anna Hazare, who made headlines from Jantar Mantar.A protester being put in a prison van. This would usually happen in the rare cases when Section 144 was imposed.A protester being put in a prison van.Protests against PM Narendra Modi’s dispensation have grown in the last decade.Posters on Modi and Shah at Jantar Mantar.Protests against the NRC and CAA in 2019.