W henever India's "cockroach" protesters have gathered at the city's central observatory in recent weeks, they have been walking in the footsteps of countless demonstrators who came before them. The causes being stood for may have varied over three decades, but they are united by the principle that noises made right outside the country's corridors of power are most likely to be heard.

Something shifted on 10 October when police refused to grant permission for a massive demonstration at the Jantar Mantar site, dragging away peaceful protesters before they even had a chance to reach the barricades assembled on its periphery.

Days later, the Delhi authorities issued an order ending Jantar Mantar’s status as a designated venue for protests, the latest in what critics see as a series of authoritarian moves to stifle dissent towards prime minister Narendra Modi’s administration.

Jantar Mantar has served as the main stage for months of demonstrations led by the satirical Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), which first…