The BJP government in Bengal on Thursday altered a media gag order that had imposed sweeping restrictions on public employees, the U-turn within 48 hours marking the first known instance of backtracking in the face of a backlash since assuming power.
The original diktat issued via Circular No. 139-CS/2026 on Tuesday by chief secretary Manoj Agarwal imposed a blanket, multi-clause “complete prohibition” on virtually anyone drawing a taxpayer-funded cheque in this state from criticising the establishment.
“Complete prohibition on members of the services in indulging in any adverse criticism of any policy or decision of the central or the state government, by any publication, interaction, utterance, publication, broadcast, contribution in any media,” Tuesday’s order had stated.
It had also prohibited “interaction, utterance, publication, broadcast, contribution in any media, which can lead to straining of the relations of the state government with the central government or any state government/s or between central government and government of any foreign state/s”.
As public outrage flooded social media and the Opposition went on the offensive against the alleged attempt to stifle free speech, Nabanna scrambled to issue a corrective document on Thursday.
Signed by additional chief secretary Rajesh Pandey, the new order limited the scope of the restriction “ONLY” to regular establishments and parastatals under direct administrative control.
Sources said a senior leader from the ruling party, who didn’t approve of such excesses, intervened to ensure the alteration of the order.
“The initial circular bore all the hallmarks of a hardline administrative crackdown, designed to ensure absolute ideological obedience from the state machinery. It targeted everything from participating in independent media panels to airing policy criticisms — a net so wide it caught autonomous bodies and educational institutions alike. It had to be diluted,” the source said.
“Such extremes, so early in the first ever term of this government in a state like Bengal, are ill-advised,” he added.
However, the government’s strategic retreat failed to pacify Bengal’s vocal public sector unions. To the veterans of the state’s academic circles, the fallback memorandum was a classic bureaucratic manoeuvre.
Parthapratim Roy, a Jadavpur University physics professor and secretary of the university’s teachers’ association, pointed out a massive logical discrepancy in the revised draft’s inclusion of “parastatal organisations” under the administrative umbrella.
“Do you think that the whole academic sector will stay outside the ambit of it? We do not think so,” Roy said. “This is mere jugglery of words. The BJP government wants to curb any voice of dissent.”
The interpretation was equally cynical in the school staffrooms.
Swapan Mandal, an English teacher at a government-aided school in Narkeldanga, argued that the government was acting out of fear.
“The state government fears that teachers will criticise it for failing to announce the enhanced dearness allowance despite promising it before the elections. They also fear that school teachers will protest any move to privatise government and aided schools... They are simply tweaking the words of the order to fool us,” he said.
The 48-hour administrative drama has handed the Opposition its first major symbolic victory since the Suvendu cabinet was sworn in.
Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee lambasted the first order.
“... it is about CURTAILING FREE EXPRESSION and SYSTEMATICALLY CHOKING FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS to ensure absolute obedience to the masters sitting in Delhi,” he posted on X.
After the second order, Trinamool claimed victory. Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh demanded to know why a workforce that routinely held rallies, demonstrations, and fiercely criticised Mamata Banerjee’s tenure as chief minister for 15 years in public (which the BJP used to its advantage) was suddenly expected to stay mute.
The Congress’s Soumya Aich Roy mocked the saffron camp’s “three steps forward, two steps back” move.
“This was the first instance of their backtracking following widespread criticism. They should tread carefully,” warned the AICC member. “Bengal does not take kindly to such autocratic diktats.”
The BJP’s chief spokesperson for the state, Debjit Sarkar, flatly deflected the controversy: “It is not a party matter. The government should be asked to respond.”
Calls and texts from this newspaper to ministers Agnimitra Paul and Dilip Ghosh went unanswered.
Additional reporting by Subhankar Chowdhury