CHENNAI: Breaking his silence on the ongoing NEET protests and the police crackdown on student demonstrators in New Delhi, Chief Minister and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday condemned the arrest of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders, calling it "undemocratic", while reiterating his party's demand for the complete abolition of NEET.
In a statement issued on X Wednesday, Vijay also expressed TVK's solidarity with opposition parties staging a protest inside the Parliament complex following Monday's police action against demonstrators participating in the 'Sansad Chalo' Parliament march.
Reiterating his party's stand, Vijay said TVK's position on NEET has remained unchanged since its inception and that the examination should be scrapped permanently. He said the party would never make "false promises" on an issue that has deeply affected students and their families merely for electoral gains.According to Vijay, the permanent solution lies in transferring education from the Concurrent List to the State List, enabling states to independently decide their admission policies. He added that if immediate constitutional changes were not feasible, the Centre should consider creating a Special Concurrent List to temporarily empower state governments to exercise greater control over general and medical education.
"This has been our stand from the very beginning of the party. We had clearly explained both the permanent and interim solutions during our educational awards function," he said. Vijay also urged the Union government to respect the sentiments of students and the people of Tamil Nadu by withdrawing NEET altogether.
The Chief Minister's statement comes amid growing protests against NEET across India following allegations of question paper leaks, examination irregularities and concerns over transparency. On Monday (July 20), thousands of students, youth organisations and members of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) participated in the 'Sansad Chalo' Parliament march in New Delhi demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, justice for students affected by the NEET controversy and reforms in the examination system.
The protest witnessed heavy police deployment, barricading and lathi-charge as demonstrators attempted to march towards Parliament. Several protesters were detained, while opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, were also taken into custody after joining the demonstration in support of the students.
In Tamil Nadu, student organisations and political parties also staged protests condemning the police action in Delhi and reiterating the demand for the abolition of NEET.