CHENNAI: Congress MP representing Thiruvallur Parliamentary constituency, Sasikanth Senthil, on Sunday said he was firm on continuing his hunger strike demanding Tamil Nadu's rightful share of Samagra Shiksha Scheme funds.
Senthil was admitted to the government hospital on Saturday night following high blood pressure on the second day of his hunger strike.
He began his strike on August 29 against the BJP-led union government's decision to withhold Rs 2,152 crore of SSA funds.
Senthil said the Union government's decision has put the future of 43 lakh students and 2.2 lakh teachers in Tamil Nadu in grave uncertainty.
Senthil did not react to TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai's request to give up his strike, as this would inadvertently divert attention from the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi's nationwide campaign against the electoral malpractices.
However, Senthil has decided to continue his hunger strike despite the TNCC president's request.
"I want to again reassert that on Saturday, I had a small blood pressure shoot up, which had to be attended to. Other than that, I am currently doing good and I am determined to bring limelight to the plight faced by the students of Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country. The Hunger Strike continues. Huge shout-out to all the well-wishers. Please spread the message for the rightful share of the young students," Sasikant said in his post on the X handle.
Senthil urged the people of Tamil Nadu to raise their voices in a democratic way and demand that Prime Minister Modi and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan release our State’s rightful money without playing politics over ideological differences. Senthil also tagged the PM and Dharmendra Pradhan in his tweet.
