Nearly a week after the suicides of a father and son in Chennai because of NEET, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Sunday, August 20, has begun protests against the controversial national eligibility test. The protests, which are being held across Tamil Nadu are being led by various party leaders with the Chief Minister’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin heading the Chennai protests. Earlier, while visiting the home of the deceased, the student Jagadeeswaran and his father Selvakumar, Udhayanidhi had emphasised the DMK’s demand to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET. He had also demanded assent for the state government’s anti-NEET Bill, currently with President Droupadi Murmu.
The protest in Chennai is also being attended by Ministers Sekar Babu (Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments) and Ma Subaramanian (Health and Family Welfare) among others.
The DMK’s anti-NEET protest is also being viewed as a sign of mounting pressure on the party to carry out its electoral promise of banning NEET in the state.
On Saturday, August 12, Jagadeeswaran took his own life after another failed attempt at NEET. The following day, his father Selvakumar died by suicide as well. A day before, Selvakumar while speaking to media persons had highlighted the DMK’s failure to carry out its poll promise.
On the day of Selvakumar’s suicide, Stalin wrote to the President demanding her assent to the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill, 2021. The Bill seeks exemption from NEET for Tamil Nadu. In the letter, Chief Minsiter MK Stalin had pointed out that the delay in granting assent to the bill has caused immense anxiety and stress in the minds of people and have led to ‘sad incidents of suicides’. He had also reiterated the DMK’s demand to change education from the concurrent list to the state list.
Earlier, after offering condolences to the family of Jagadeeswaran and Selvakumar, Udhayanidhi had also said that while the DMK will take up the agitation against NEET, it was essential that it also turn into a people’s protest.
The anti-NEET Bill was first passed in the state Assembly in September 2021, but did not receive Governor RN Ravi’s assent for many months until it was sent back to the Assembly by the Governor.
In a historic move for the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the Bill was passed again in February 2022 without any amendments during a special session. It was the first time in the Assembly’s 70-year history that a Bill had been passed again with no amendments.
The Bill has been one of the several points of contention between Governor RN Ravi and the Tamil Nadu government. Incidentally, on the day of Jagadeeswaran suicide, Ravi, while speaking at an event felicitating high-scoring students who had passed NEET at the Raj Bhavan, had said that he if it were up to him, he would never pass the anti-NEET Bill. The governor’s statement was met with widespread criticism.