Chennai (Tamil Nadu): The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday said the opposition to NEET has become an "all-India issue" now and sounded confident of seeing a "good result" in their demand for its abolition. This comes on a day when top Tamil actor Vijay also backed a TN Assembly resolution against the central qualifying test recently.
The DMK students' wing held a protest demanding the abolition of NEET, even as Opposition AIADMK and BJP hit out at the ruling party for "misleading people" and enacting a "drama" over the issue. NEET has been a sensitive issue in Tamil Nadu as scores of medical aspirants have died allegedly by suicide over the past few years, either over failing the exam or over fears of being unable to crack it. All major political parties, including the DMK and the AIADMK, have been opposed to NEET.
DMK has been opposing NEET for long, claiming it was against social justice and state's rights. It wants marks secured in the class 12 exams to be the criteria for medical admissions. The DMK protest, titled "No More NEET" was led by the party's Students Wing Secretary and Kancheepuram MLA, CVMP Ezhilarasan. The protesters were clad in black.
DMK Organisation Secretary RS Bharathi addressed the protesters. The agitation comes days after the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed yet another resolution, seeking NEET exemption for the state. In his address at the protest venue, Bharathi said the DMK has been opposing NEET ever since it was introduced and that it could not "enter into Tamil Nadu" during the days of late party president and former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. So was the case when late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa ruled the state.
Later, speaking to reporters, the DMK leader said all the people have started realising that DMK's decision to oppose NEET "is a good one". "Earlier, DMK alone was talking about NEET, today all the parties are talking. (Actor) Vijay has also voluntarily extended support to our resolution. This is an all-India issue. There will be a good result. Last time it was different, this time the Parliament is different, there will be changes," he said in an apparent reference to a stronger opposition in the Lok Sabha that could press for NEET abolition.
Actor Vijay, who heads the political party Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) that would contest the 2026 Assembly polls in the state, also opposed NEET and wanted Education to be brought to the States' List as a permanent solution to such issues. Addressing students at an event organised by him to honour rank holders of classes 10 and 12 exams, the actor-politician claimed students in Tamil Nadu, especially the poor, those from backward and very backward classes in the rural areas have been "badly affected," following the introduction of the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test.
NEET was also against states' rights as it was moved to the concurrent list after 1975. "Curriculum should be state-specific. It should give importance to different perspectives. Diversity is a strength, not a weakness. After studying in the state language and syllabus and exam based on NCERT, how is it fair (for an aspirant to appear in the central test)...think about the rural students, how difficult it is for them."
