Stirrings of Protest Felt in Tamil Nadu Too
Students and youth gather at party offices while authorities prevent campus protests from spilling out
Chennai: Stirrings of the protests against the NEET paper leak controversy that is rocking the national capital in a big way since July 20 have been felt in Chennai and some other parts of Tamil Nadu, too, though the police kept a close vigil on educational institutions and prevented the ferment from spilling out of campuses and the State offices of the CPI and CPM, where youth and students have been gathering to express their anger and raising slogans.
Heavy police pickets have been posted along the stretch of Marina Sands to prevent the recurrence of another uprising on the lines of the pro- Jallikattu protest of 2017 with the police dispersing even small knots of youth standing near the beach. Every group of young people congregating in the place was looked at with suspicion and not allowed to linger around by the police.
Though students gathered inside the college premises to organise agitations in support of the protesters in New Delhi all over Chennai and in other parts of the State, police ensured that the protesters did not come out of the colleges.
The CPI’s state headquarters, Balan Illam, in Chennai’s T Nagar has been teeming with youth activists and students since the furore intensified in New Delhi, triggering a series of protests at Jantar Mantar, Lok Kalyan Marg and other places. In a statement on Thursday, the All India Youth Federation (AIYF), the youth wing of the CPI, said the protests continued for the fourth day on Thursday.
Demanding the abolition of NEET, the resignation of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and in solidarity with the Cockroach Janata Party that is spearheading the New Delhi protests, that attracted political leaders and popular film stars like Prakash Raj, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who courted arrests, the youth and students in Chennai sat in protest inside Balan Illam.
The CPM’s State headquarters, also in T Nagar, turned into a protest venue, too, with members of the youth wings like the SFI congregating there to give vent to their anger. However, they were confined to the party office premises with the police refusing to let them come out as a group.
A press release from AIYF said that all political parties, other than the BJP, supported the protests demanding the abolition of NEET and people from all walks of life visited Balan Illam to support the protestors sitting inside the premises.
The TNCC announced that a public meeting would be held on Saturday at 5.30 pm behind the T Nagar bus stand condemning the BJP government led by Narendra Modi for unleashing violence against the students and youth who were protesting in New Delhi in a peaceful manner.
Apart from TNCC president Manickam Tagore, Vaiko of the MDMK, State Minister A Rajmohan from the TVK, Minister R Vanniarasu from the VCK and other State Ministers like S Rajeshkumar and P Viswanahan, representatives of other alliance parties that are part of the TVK-led ruling coalition in the State would take part in the protest meeting, a TNCC press release said.
