CHENNAI: The DMK and the VCK on Saturday hailed the resignation of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged NEET paper-leak issue, terming it a victory for the students, and renewed their demand for scrapping the test altogether.
“The farmers of India did it first. The youth have done it today,” DMK president M K Stalin said in a post on X. “Just as the farm laws were repealed, we shall ensure that NEET is also abolished,” he said.
VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan said Pradhan’s resignation was a “great victory” for the students’ protests. He urged the centre to appoint an educationist as the next education minister and scrap NEET altogether, allowing states to conduct their own medical entrance exams.
On Saturday, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) too demanded abolition of NEET at a protest conference organised in T Nagar with coalition partners, including CPI, CPM, VCK and TVK. TNCC chief Manickam Tagore took a swipe at DMK over its stand on the protests, alleging that the party’s MPs stayed away from a joint protest in Parliament and instead staged a separate demonstration. TVK Minister Rajmohan, Congress Minister Rajeshkumar, and CPM MP Su Venkatesan participated.
Earlier in the day at Balan Illam, before the protest was called off, Rajmohan said, “Setting politics aside, I salute the unity of students and youth. You are standing up for a permanent solution by demanding that education be moved back to the State List.” Even as he was addressing the gathering, a group of students booed him and raised slogans against the TVK. DMK deputy general secretary and Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi said, “You have achieved what many could not. It’s not just an exam paper leak or a NEET scam; NEET by itself is the scam.”