More than 300 people from different political parties in Tamil Nadu, including the DMK and VCK, protested on Thursdayagainst the Centre’s refusal to exempt Tamil Nadu from the NEET.
The protest started around 10 AM at Chepauk in Chennai. The protest was carried out by DMK, VCK, Congress, IUML and MMK political parties. The political leaders who were part of the protest were DMK’s working President MK Stalin, VCK leader Thirumavalavan, CPI (ML) leader K Ramakrishnan, IUML leader Kader Mohideen and MMK leader M.H. Jawahirullah.
During the protest, DMK leader MK Stalin criticized the state government and the central government for not exempting Tamil Nadu students from the NEET. He said that the Tamil Nadu government tried to bring in the ordinance only in 2017, when the exam was introduced in 2013.
“During the hearing of a petition filed by a student, Krithika, in the Madras High Court, the judge noted that in the examination, the questions were based on CBSE's syllabus, and the students who studied the state syllabus will find it difficult to answer them,” he said.
He added that according to the list of students who passed the NEET examination, very few were from the backward classes and Scheduled Castes. He added that the BJP government is clearly trying to bring in a divide between communities.
"Whenever we raised the issue of NEET in the assembly, we were told by minister Vijaybhaskar and other ministers that Tamil Nadu will be exempted from NEET. They even kept visiting Delhi. It can clearly be seen that it was for their own good,” Stalin said
.Even Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had promised that the state would be exempted from NEET when she came to Chennai this month, added Stalin.
He also alleged that the number of students who passed NEET in Tamil Nadu were comparatively lesser than the other states in the country.
On Tuesday, the Central Government refused to endorse Tamil Nadu’s draft ordinance seeking a one-year exemption from NEET. Post that, the Supreme Court had ordered the state on Tuesday to begin medical admissions based on NEET bySeptember 4.
Senior advocate Nalini Chidambaram, who represented medical aspirants in Tamil Nadu who had passed NEET, said, "NEET has to be a basis for admission for now. Tamil Nadu government has nothing else to argue if there is no ordinance. There is already a delay in admissions, so till September 4 they have been given time to conduct counselling."