Chennai : The Vijay-led Tamil Nadu government has withdrawn a controversial order that barred students from participating in protests organised by Left parties and the Tamil Nadu Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), following strong criticism. The directive, issued on August 14 to the School Education and Higher Education departments, was revoked on Wednesday amid mounting backlash.
The directive invited intense criticism from the CJP, with national co-convener Saurav Das calling it “unconstitutional” and an “illogical” and “irrational” move by the Vijay government. As per the now-withdrawn order, the TVK government sought coordinated action to prevent students and youth from “succumbing to the urge” to participate in protests and agitations by the Left parties and the CJP, which spearheaded the recent student protests in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
The Left parties had extended unconditional outside support to Vijay’s TVK in June to help secure the numbers required for government formation in Tamil Nadu. While the TVK emerged as the single-largest party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, it fell short of a majority and had to depend on support from smaller parties like the Congress and VCK to pass the floor test. The communication, marked “most immediate”, also directed schools and colleges to submit an action-taken report to the government by August 20.
The protests included a hunger strike and a march towards Parliament organised by the Cockroach Janata Party. On July 20, thousands of students joined the march and demanded, among other things, the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and changes to the examination system. The situation escalated when protesters tried to move past police barricades in central Delhi.
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