Chennai police arrested senior AIADMK leaders including former Deputy CM O Paneerselvam on Tuesday for protesting a bill to merge two universities. OPS, the deputy opposition leader, walked out of the Tamil Nadu Assembly session on Tuesday morning. Later the AIADMK staged a ‘road roko’ before the Assembly building in Kalainavar Arangam on Walajah road to protest the bill.
The bill aims to merge Dr J Jayalalithaa University in Villupuram district with Annamalai University in Chidambaram. It was introduced by Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy in the Assembly on Tuesday. As soon as the bill was introduced, the AIADMK strongly opposed the bill. OPS later said that the Jayalalithaa University was named after the late Chief Minister for her contribution towards higher education in Tamil Nadu. When he was disallowed by the Assembly Speaker to continue speaking, OPS walked out of the building with other AIADMK MLAs.
Police arrested AIADMK MLAs, including former chief minister O Panneerselvam, when they staged a protest outside the Kalaivanar Arangam -- where the budget session of the Tamil Nadu assembly session was taking place. @aselvarajTOI pic.twitter.com/vUaKOUH217
— Selvaraj Arunachalam (@selvasuha) August 31, 2021
The AIADMK has also been accusing the ruling DMK of merging Jayalalithaa University with Annamalai University out of political vendetta. However, Chief Minister Stalin defended his government’s decision and denied that any political agenda was behind the move.
Chennai police detained AIADMK MLAs including deputy LOP O Pannerselvam after they resorted to a road blockade outside the Kalaivanar Arangam protesting against the bill introduced by TN Govt to merge Dr. J Jayalalithaa university with Annamalai University. pic.twitter.com/LwB565xdUm
— Janardhan Koushik (@koushiktweets) August 31, 2021
It was in February 2021 that the Jayalalithaa University was established after a bill was passed to bifurcate the Thiruvalluvar University and create a new academic institution headquartered in Villupuram. The new university was to start functioning from the academic year of 2021.
However, soon after coming into power, the DMK announced that it would merge the university with the Annamalai university in Chidambaram. The bill also has a provision to convert the Annamalai University from a unitary institution to an affiliating university. The colleges located in Villupuram, Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai and Kallakurichi could then be affiliated to the Annamalai University. The new bill seeks to repeal the Dr J Jayalalithaa University Act 2021, and amend the Annamalai University Act and the Bharathidasan University Act.