Chennai, Jul 22 (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday said the Union government must respect the sentiments of people and students on the NEET issue and scrap it altogether and that is the only solution to the issue.
He also extended his party, TVK’s support to the Opposition’s protest outside Parliament to express solidarity with students protesting against the NEET question paper leak.
Vijay said the arrest of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and other leaders over NEET agitation in Delhi was ‘anti-democratic,’ and action of ‘arrest’ condemnable.
In a statement, the CM asserted that TVK’s stand on NEET is uncompromising and it is abolishing the test, as it not only severely affects the students but also their families.
However, Vijay, also the founder-president of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam said his party will not give false assurance for the sake of “vote politics,” apparently targeting Tamil Nadu’s main opposition DMK.
In the run-up to the 2021 Assembly polls, DMK had assured scrapping the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test as soon as it assumed power.
The qualifying exam particularly has emotional undertones in Tamil Nadu as a number of medical aspirants have died by suicide, either for failing to clear NEET or over apprehensions of unable to crack the test. The deceased included S Anitha of Ariyalur, whose alleged suicide in 2017 created a big furore in the state.
“The Union Government must respect the sentiments of our people and students. As a reflection of that, the national test must be completely done away with. We reiterate that this is the only solution to this issue,” Vijay said.
“If exams like NEET are to be abolished, education must first be moved to the State List of the Constitution. That alone can be the only permanent solution. If there are any legal procedural complexities in doing so, as an interim solution until those are resolved, a Special Concurrent List should be created to empower state governments,” he added.
By doing so, it must be ensured that states get full powers over matters related to education including medical education. “This is our perspective towards both a permanent and an interim solution.”
This has already been strongly emphasised during the educational awards ceremony held soon after the launch of the party.
Wearing black clothes, leaders of several Opposition parties on Wednesday staged a protest outside Parliament on NEET issue.
