LOSING THE CHAINS?

1870s Sedition added to the Indian Penal Code. Section 124-A was used by the British to crack down on freedom fighters 1897

The first time the British imprisoned Bal Gangadhar Tilak for the crime of sedition

1973 A decade of social upheaval and mass protests like ‘Save Silent Valley’ and Chipko movement 1974

J.P. Narayan, 72, leads a student movement in Bihar, calling for a “total revolution”. Protests tap into a nationwide discontent, precipitating the Emergency 1985 The Narmada Bachao Andolan starts against the Sardar Sarovar dam

1990

The V.P. Singh government’s plan to implement the Mandal Commission proposals of reservations for OBC students lets loose a cascade of fury 2011 Anna Hazare monopolises national attention as he goes on hunger strike in Jantar Mantar to force the UPA government to pass a ‘Jan Lokpal’ bill and clamp down on corruption

2012

The shocking gangrape and murder of a girl in Delhi brings the middle classes teeming into the streets in protest. The ‘Nirbhaya’ protests soon spread to cities across the country

2016 Demonstrations by dominant communities, the Jats in Haryana, Patidars in Gujarat and Marathas in Maharashtra, demanding OBC status and reservations

2014-’16 Some 165 people jailed under the sedition law