Chennai: Facing political heat in the Dravidian heartland, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has joined the list of Raj Bhavan occupants who are on a warpath with the state governments. His prolonged indecision on certain issues in which there is near political unanimity has invited the wrath of political parties, including the allies of the ruling AIADMK.
Not to leave an opportunity to take on the BJP and the AIADMK government, the principal opposition DMK is holding a massive protest against the Governor tomorrow. What sparked off the outrage against the Raj Bhavan was the Governor sitting over the Bill providing for 7.5% horizontal reservation for students who had cleared NEET exam and had studied in government schools from class 6th to 12th, in medical admissions. The Bill was passed in the last Assembly Session in September following the recommendation of an expert panel.
The DMK's decision to drag the Governor to the streets followed his reply to party president MK Stalin that it would require 3-4 weeks to ascertain clarifications on the Bill with legal luminaries. Significantly, the Governor taking nearly month to decide on the fate of the Bill comes close on the heels of a team of Tamil Nadu Ministers calling on him to secure assent for the legislation in view of the fast-approaching medical admission counselling. Earlier, the AIADMK government had told the Madras High Court that it would not hold counselling until the Raj Bhavan took a decision on the Bill.
NEET continues to be a live issue in the state which had abolished entrance examination and is taking the score in the Board exams for medical admissions. As such, political parties barring the BJP are opposing NEET. Now, with the number of students from government school getting into medical colleges dwindling to single-digit numbers, the government had brought in the 7.5% quota which would ensure around 400 students entering medical colleges.
Political parties see the governor's studied silence as a dilatory tactic to make the legislation redundant for the current academic year. “The governor sitting on the Bill is a betrayal of Tamil Nadu students,” read Stalin's statement, criticising the Raj Bhavan.
Going a step further, the CPI(M) and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) have demanded that Purohit be recalled.
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