CHENNAI: The President withholding assent for the Tamil Nadu government’s bill to exempt the state from NEET has disappointed many who have been voicing against the medical entrance test since its introduction in 2017. They said this was yet another instance of the BJP’s apathy towards the sentiments of Tamil Nadu.
The opposition to the NEET escalated into a massive protest after Kuzhumur Anitha, a medical aspirant died by suicide as she could not make into the medical college despite scoring 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in Class XII exam.
The news about the denial of consent to the NEET exemption bill of Tamil Nadu has dashed the hopes of SA Maniratnam, Anitha’s brother. “The Congress gave the electoral promise that NEET would be abolished. Had the Congress come to power, it would have been done. The BJP is not listening to what the people say. They brought in new education policy (NEP), three-language formula and delimitation.”
He said, “Like the DMK government is preventing NEP and delimitation in the initial stages, the AIADMK should have fought and nipped NEET in the bud.”
When asked, former HC judge Hari Paranthaman said this is an indication that federalism has failed in this country.
He said, “Now Supreme Court is our only option. This is a temporary solution only. The permanent way to end all these is to take measures to bring back education to the state list of the constitution from the concurrent list.”
He also alleged that going by all the happenings now we could say the concurrent list has become the union list.
Transport Minister SS Sivasankar, who led the anti-NEET protest in Ariyalur following Anitha’s death, said, “NEET exemption is the Tamil people’s demand. That’s why all the parties in the Assembly united to adopt the bill not once but twice. But the union government rejecting the bill is an insult to the Tamil people. It is an act of snatching states’ rights. Our chief minister will definitely win in this fight.”
‘Can’t expect anything other than this’
SFI state president Samseer Ahmad, against whom cases were filed for anti-NEET protests, said, “We cannot expect anything other than this from the BJP government. Once colleges reopen after the semester exams, there will be protests much bigger than before.”