CPI(M) holds Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary responsible for circular on student participation in Left parties’ protests
CPI(M) leader P. Shanmugam has criticized the Tamil Nadu government for a circular that discouraged students from participating in protests organized by Left parties. He demanded accountability from the Chief Secretary and the state administration for suppressing democratic rights.
Why it matters
This highlights the ongoing friction between student political activism and state administrative control in educational institutions.
CPI(M) State secretary P. Shanmugam on Thursday (August 20, 2026) strongly condemned the Tamil Nadu Higher Education Department’s circular advising students against “succumbing to the urge” to participate in protests organised by Communist parties and the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), and held Chief Secretary M. Sai Kumar responsible for it.
“How did the idea of specifically targeting and suppressing the Left parties and other democratic parties come about? The question of how the Chief Secretary took such a major decision without the knowledge of the Chief Minister is quite natural,” he said.
Mr. Shanmugam contended the meeting (where the decision to curb protests was taken), attended by the Chief Secretary, had denied students their right to protest and allowed the police to enter educational institution campuses, describing it as an act of unleashing ruthless suppression.
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