Vijay govt withdraws order barring Tamil Nadu students from CJP, Left protests

The Vijay-led Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday revoked a controversial order that sought to prevent students from participating in protests organised by Left parties and the Tamil Nadu Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). The order, issued to the school education and higher education departments on August 14, was withdrawn amid a fierce backlash.

As per the now-withdrawn order, the TVK government sought coordinated action to prevent students and youth from "succumbing to the urge" to participate in protests and agitations by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 directive, marked "most immediate", also directed schools and colleges to submit an action-taken report to the government by August 20.

CJP national co-convener Saurav Das called the order "unconstitutional", "illogical" and "irrational". The BJP backed it, with leader Vinoj P Selvam calling the CJP and Left outfits "agents of chaos".

The Left parties had extended unconditional outside support to Vijay's TVK in June to help it secure the numbers required for government formation in Tamil Nadu. The TVK emerged as the single-largest party in the assembly polls but fell short of a majority, and depended on support from smaller parties including the Congress and VCK.

The withdrawal comes amid mushrooming Gen Z and Gen Alpha protests across the country over exam and education-related issues, inspired by the CJP stir.

In June, a group led by lawyer C Brahma Balasubramaniam approached the Election Commission seeking registration of 'Tamil Nadu Cockroach Janata Party' as a regional political outfit. Balasubramaniam had said his outfit was different from Abhijeet Dipke's CJP.

(With inputs from PTI)