The Vijay-led Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday, August 19, withdrew a controversial directive that sought coordinated action by education officials, police and district administrations to prevent students from participating in protests organised by Left parties and the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP).
The directive, which explicitly identified political organisations and asked officials to discourage students from joining their protests, triggered criticism over what civil society and political observers saw as an attempt by the government to curb students’ right to dissent and participation in democratic protests.
The Directorate of Collegiate Education had issued the directive to principals of higher education institutions on August 17, asking them to take “appropriate action” to prevent students from participating in protests organised by the Left parties and the CJP. It also required officials to report on the action taken.
The order was based on instructions issued by Chief Secretary M Sai Kumar following a Law and Order Meeting held on July 28. The meeting took place shortly after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned following weeks of student protests led by the CJP at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
The Higher Education Department had earlier, on August 14, written to the Commissioner of Collegiate Education, Director of Technical Education and registrars of state universities, citing the Chief Secretary’s directions for “interdepartmental cooperation” between the School Education, Higher Education and Police departments, as well as district administrations.
The communication specifically called for efforts to prevent “students and youth from succumbing to the urge to participate in protests and agitations” organised by Left parties and the CJP. Officials were asked to submit an action-taken report by August 20.
The Collegiate Education Department subsequently circulated the directive to higher education institutions. It was withdrawn on Wednesday after the order became public and drew criticism.
The decision to specifically single out the Left parties and the CJP has raised questions about the government's approach to political dissent. Rather than treating student participation in protests as a legitimate democratic activity, the directive appeared to frame political mobilisation itself as something from which students needed to be prevented.
During the CJP protest, Tamil Nadu witnessed protests and sit-in demonstrations at Balan Illam, the Communist Party of India’s state headquarters in Chennai. The demonstration was attended by leaders from several political parties, including the DMK, VCK, IUML and MNM. Students also organised spontaneous protests outside several colleges and schools.
The episode follows another controversy involving a government official. A tahsildar in Dindigul was transferred to Chennai after an uproar over an order seeking details of members of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M).
Both incidents have led to the criticism that the government is treating Left political activity with an unusual degree of suspicion. It must be recalled that the Left parties extended their outside support to the fragile TVK government. Vijay’s party TVK won 108 seats out of the 234 seats in the Assembly elections and fell short of 11 seats to form the government.