Thousands of protesters gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Friday, August 21, 2026, under the banner of Reservation Hatao Andolan (RHA), demanding an overhaul of the reservation system in India. The protesters called for quota in public education and employment to be based solely on income criteria rather than socio-economic categories, and also raised demands like ‘one family, one reservation’ and a rollback of the UGC’s 2026 caste-equity rules.
The movement began when a student, Harsh Dubey, started the RHA Instagram page, which was later handed over to veteran anti-reservation and general category activists Anuradha Tiwari, Ajeet Bharti, and Neha Das. The protests come amidst the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government reiterating India’s stance that reservations for socio-economic categories are not a poverty alleviation scheme but a scheme meant to ensure representation of marginalized communities.
The protesters, many of whom were mobilized by different organizations representing people from ‘general’ castes, arrived at Jantar Mantar despite public statements from the Delhi Police saying that no permission had been granted for a demonstration at this site. However, the protesters refused to leave and had a standoff with security personnel, eventually pouring into the Jantar Mantar site after the barricading was opened. By evening, the protesters had set up a stage with a banner that read: ‘Reservation Reform Satyagraha’.
The Delhi Police later declared the gathering at Jantar Mantar illegal and security personnel were seen putting protesters on buses and taking them away from the site. However, the protesters vowed to continue their demonstration, with Ms. Tiwari saying that ‘the protest will continue. More people are coming. The police cannot act like this.’
The protesters argue that the reservation system has led to people seeing the General category folks in a certain way, and that poverty does not have caste. They demand that reservation should be based only on income and not on caste categories. The movement has posted a total of five demands on its Instagram page, including income-based reservation, one family, one reservation, and a freeze on the 50% cap on reservations.
The activists leading the RHA page have not yet made a statement about how long they intend to demonstrate, but Abhishek Agnihotri, one of the protesters, said the protest was intended to ‘keep going’. The protesters later marched towards Raj Ghat after being removed from Jantar Mantar, vowing to return to Jantar Mantar if the police remove them from there as well.
