Alagiri wants state, Centre to take responsibility for suicides

Referring to the death of students Ritusree of Tirupur and Vaishya of Pattukottai on Wednesday, Alagiri said the timidity of the ruling AIADMK in securing a pre-poll assurance from the BJP on NEET issue was contributing to continuing suicides in the state.

The state Congress president also cautioned that the BJP and AIADMK regimes would pay a heavy price in future for the death of the students affected by NEET.

Remarking that the AIADMK could have set President’s nod for the TN Assembly legislation seeking exemption for the state from NEET as a precondition for alliance ahead of the Parliamentary polls, Alagiri said the people of the state have taught a fitting lesson to the AIADMK for surrendering the interests of the state to the BJP and forging an opportunistic and selfish alliance with the saffron party.

Detailing the performance of Tamil Nadu students in NEET 2019, in which Delhi and Haryana have topped the chart, Alagiri said the state was suffering because only those studied in CBSE stream, a few, were successfully cracking the test in good numbers. He also sought to know what efforts were made by the state government to better the standards of education and safeguard the interests of Tamil Nadu students, who were suffering a setback due to NEET.

“Has level playing field been created among students taking the test?” the TNCC chief wondered, alleging that the state was continuously affected due to the slackness of the AIADMK regime which should have reviewed the situation and acted on a war footing.

Adding that Congress president Rahul Gandhi had promised to let states decide on their own only after factoring in the ground reality ahead of the Parliamentary polls, Alagiri said the state was witnessing students suicide only because of the cowardice of the AIADMK in securing such an assurance from the BJP ahead of the LS polls.