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The Tamil Nadu assembly on Friday once again passed a unanimous resolution urging the Centre to exempt the state from National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test and allow it to admit students to medical courses based on Plus Two exam marks.
The resolution, adopted by the house amid the Bharatiya Janata Party’s opposition and walkout, called upon the Centre to amend the National Medical Commission Act and abolish the country-wide screening test taking into account the irregularities and increasing opposition to the test in several states, which toed Tamil Nadu's line.
The BJP's ally, the Pattali Makkal Katchi, however, supported the resolution piloted by Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M K Stalin, who argued that the test was discriminatory and deprived an opportunity for the rural and poor students to access medical education and denied states their rights to admit students with Plus Two marks as the qualifying criteria.
AIADMK general secretary and former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami accused the DMK of having done precious little to abolish NEET, and asked, "What is the point in bringing a resolution in the assembly for the third time?"
"This is just another political drama of the DMK government. People no longer believe in such futile political gimmicks that try to conceal the Kallakurichi illicit liquor deaths," Palaniswami said in a post on the social media platform X.
In the assembly, BJP leader Nainar Nagendran argued that the NEET was required as it had many benefits.
On the argument that the poor and rural students found it difficult to pursue medical education because of the test, he said then Union Health Minister J P Nadda and then chief minister Palaniswami ensured 7.5 per cent reservation for state government school students who passed the test.
"NEET is needed. The assembly resolution against NEET is unacceptable and we are staging a walkout," Nagendran said and walked out along with the BJP legislators.
The principal opposition AIADMK was not present in the house as all the members were suspended for the brief session concluding on June 29 for disrupting the house over the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy incident.
Moving the resolution, Stalin said apart from making medical education inaccessible to the poor and rural students, NEET will affect the medical services in the rural and backward areas.
"The DMK has consistently been opposing NEET since it was made mandatory in 2017 and had even launched a massive signature campaign aiming to abolish the test," the chief minister said.
He recalled that as per the recommendation of retired judge A K Rajan committee, the assembly adopted a resolution seeking presidential assent to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET in 2021, but it was returned by Governor R N Ravi in 2022. The House again re-adopted it in 2022.
Further, the irregularities in the conduct of NEET, scams that surfaced in many states and grace marks that were awarded and later rescinded, leading to the Centre order an enquiry by the CBI, led to the states opposing the test, the chief minister said.
Stalin referred to the letters written by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav to the Centre demanding scrapping of the NEET in the aftermath of irregularities in the conduct of the test.
"The voice of Tamil Nadu has now become the voice of the country," he said and appealed to the members to support his resolution against NEET.
"NEET should be abolished. Tamil Nadu should be allowed to admit students to medical courses taking the Plus Two marks as the qualifying criteria. Taking into account the irregularities in several states and opposition to the test, the Centre should appropriately amend the National Medical Commission Act to totally scrap NEET," the resolution said.
It was unanimously passed, Speaker M Appavu said.
In a lengthy post on X, Palaniswami said the string of events from the Supreme Court's observations in the NEET case, the verdict, irregularities in the conduct of NEET exam, various states taking a stand against NEET, the removal of the head of National Testing Agency conducting the test, and the postponement of screening exam for post-graduate medical courses, clearly stated that NEET should be completely scrapped.
"What is the point in bringing a resolution in the assembly for the third time when the DMK, which has hardly done anything to abolish NEET, despite having 38 MPs in the past, has not brought a resolution on NEET in the Parliament after winning 40 MPs,” the former chief minister said.
"This is just another political drama of the DMK government. People no longer believe in such futile political gimmicks that try to conceal the Kallakurichi illicit liquor deaths," he added.
Palaniswami pointed out that it was time to review the NEET examination in the Parliament and urged the BJP coalition government at the centre to table and pass in the coming Parliament session itself the bill to abolish NEET.
"The voice of @AIADMKOfficial, the only party that has been opposing it in all forums, will continue to be heard till the NEET examination which is destroying the medical dreams of the poor students, since its introduction by the DMK-Congress combine in 2010, is abolished," Palaniswami, who is the leader of the opposition in the assembly, said in the post.