Vijay govt revokes order barring students from participating in protests amid massive backlash

PTC News Desk: The Vijay-led Tamil Nadu government revoked its controversial order prohibiting students from participating in demonstration amid a fierce backlash. The order, issued to the school education and higher education departments on August 14, was withdrawn on Wednesday.

The directive has drawn massive criticism from the CJP with national co-convener Saurav Das calling it "unconstitutional" and an "illogical" and "irrational" move by the Vijay government. 

According to the now-withdrawn notification, the TVK government sought coordinated action to prevent students from 'succumbing to the urge' to participate in the demonstrations by the left and the CJP. 

Interestingly, the Left parties had extended unconditional outside support to Vijay’s TVK in June to help the party secure enough numbers to form the government in Tamil Nadu. Although TVK emerged as the single-largest party in the Assembly elections, it did not win a clear majority and depended on support from smaller parties such as Congress and VCK to pass the floor test.

Meanwhile, a government communication marked “most immediate” directed schools and colleges to submit an action-taken report by August 20.

In June, a group led by lawyer C. Brahma Balasubramaniam approached the Election Commission seeking to register the Tamil Nadu Cockroach Janata Party as a regional political party. Balasubramaniam reportedly said that his party was different from Abhijeet Dipke’s CJP.

Gen Z and Gen Alpha protests spread

The development comes amid a growing number of Gen Z and Gen Alpha protests across the country over examination and education-related issues, reportedly inspired by the CJP movement.

The month-long student protests led by CJP in Delhi over alleged exam paper leaks eventually led to Dharmendra Pradhan resigning as Union Education Minister.