Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay said the Union government must respect the sentiments of the public and students, reiterating his stand on the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
In a statement, he condemned the arrest of several leaders, including Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who had supported a youth protest in Delhi against alleged irregularities in the NEET examination. He called the arrests “anti-democratic” and said the Centre’s actions were condemnable.
Vijay said the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) would extend full support to the protest planned by opposition parties in the Parliament complex, condemning what he described as an “unwanted incident” that took place the previous day.
On NEET, he said TVK’s uncompromising position was that the exam system should be abolished entirely, arguing that it affects not only students but also their families. He added that his party would not make “false promises” for vote-bank politics.
He further said that to eliminate exams like NEET, education should first be moved to the State List, calling it the only permanent solution. If legal procedural hurdles exist, he suggested an interim measure of creating a “Special Concurrent List” to grant States authority over education and medical education, reiterating that scrapping NEET must reflect respect for people’s and students’ sentiments.
