Sunday Protest Turns Into Confrontation at National Monument
On Sunday, November 10, 2025, what began as a peaceful gathering at India Gate to protest Delhi's severe air pollution crisis escalated into a scene of detention and confrontation. Among the protesters was Namrata Yadav, an independent researcher and mother of a 7-year-old boy, who shared her firsthand account of the events that unfolded at the historic monument.
The protest was organized to draw attention to what participants called a public health emergency - the dangerously toxic air quality that has made breathing in Delhi a daily struggle for survival. Despite their non-violent approach and legitimate concerns about children's health, many protesters found themselves being questioned, pushed aside, and ultimately detained by police forces.
Sacred Ground Transformed Into Fortress
For Yadav and many families with military backgrounds, India Gate holds deep personal significance beyond being just a tourist attraction. "The National War Memorial is not just a structure of tablets - on one of those chakras, I will always find a familiar name," she explained, referencing the memorial's circular arrangement of stone tablets honoring fallen soldiers.
However, on that Sunday evening, the atmosphere was dramatically different. Barricades blocked access, gates were chained shut, and police cordons surrounded the area, transforming what should have been a place of honor and gratitude into what felt like a fortress designed to suppress citizen voices rather than protect national heritage.
The irony wasn't lost on the protesters that the very regions whose residents traditionally join the armed forces in large numbers - villages across North India, towns in Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh - are now among the worst affected by the air pollution crisis. Future generations may not even be physically capable of serving their country due to respiratory damage from chronic exposure to polluted air.
Two Delhis Divided by Masks
The protest revealed a stark divide in how Delhi residents are responding to the pollution crisis. On one side stood the masked protesters, their face coverings serving dual purposes - protection from toxic air and unintentional identification as dissenters. These protective masks ironically made them easy targets for police attention and intervention.
Meanwhile, just yards away, another Delhi continued with Sunday evening routines as if nothing was wrong. Children chased balloons, couples took selfies, and vendors sold bhel puri, all seemingly unaware or unwilling to acknowledge the health emergency surrounding them. The two groups occupied the same physical space but existed in different realities, both breathing the same hazardous air.
Yadav described feeling caught between despair and responsibility, between present crisis and past sacrifice. She wanted to visit the War Memorial to pay respects to her brother, but found herself trapped between police barricades and gasping children, questioning whether those who died for the nation would recognize the country they sacrificed everything to protect.
A Plea for Governance, Not Evacuation
The protesters emphasized that they weren't presenting themselves as experts with all the solutions. "We are not policymakers or atmospheric scientists or environmental engineers," Yadav stated. "We are parents. We are citizens. We are human beings; mothers who just want their children to live."
When challenged with the question "How will you solve it?" protesters responded that solving complex environmental problems is precisely why societies elect governments and employ experts. The current advice to "Leave Delhi" struck them as particularly inadequate - where should millions of residents go? Why should citizens abandon their homes, memories, and identities rather than their government addressing the root causes of pollution?
The detention of mothers, fathers, and children for demanding something as fundamental as breathable air raised troubling questions about democratic rights and governmental responsibility. Protesters were asking not for revolutionary changes but for implementation of existing environmental protections and policies.
As Yadav reflected on the experience, she noted the disturbing transition from service to survival, from sacrifice to silence, from honor to indifference. The most poignant realization: "If the dead could speak, they would ask why we stopped fighting for the living."
The events at India Gate on November 10, 2025, represent more than just another protest - they signal a growing desperation among ordinary citizens facing an environmental crisis that threatens their most basic human need: the ability to breathe safely.
