CHENNAI: A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was taken into custody during protests in Delhi against alleged NEET irregularities, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday condemned the police action against the opposition leaders and demanded that the NEET examination be scrapped.
Expressing solidarity with the opposition’s protest in Parliament, the CM said that 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 complications in doing so, as a temporary solution, a Special Concurrent List should be created,” he said in a post on X.
“This would ensure that states get full powers over matters related to education, including medical education,” the CM said.
“The NEET examination system has severely affected not only students but also their families. Our party’s uncompromising stand is that NEET should be abolished,” he said, and added that TVK would not make “false promises” on the issue merely for electoral gains.
Meanwhile, school education minister A Rajmohan, when asked about the arrest of the protesting students in TN, said that the protesters had staged a road blockade without prior permission, disrupting traffic. “They were removed only to regulate traffic,” he said.
TN govt will follow up NEET case in SC: Health min
On whether anyone from TVK would travel to New Delhi to support the ongoing protests in which Rahul Gandhi had also participated, the minister said several party leaders, including himself, had already expressed support for all non-violent protests on the issue.
Health minister KG Arunraj said the state government will follow up the case related to NEET in the Supreme Court.
“The states have spent huge tax money to build infrastructure in government medical colleges, but the centre is being stubborn in conducting a common entrance exam to all the state medical colleges. States should be given the rights to follow their own rules to conduct the admission to medical courses,” Arunraj said.
“The DMK does not genuinely care for social justice, they are just playing opportunistic politics in the issue,” he added.