Tamil Nadu CM Vijay's TVK Seeks NEET Abolition, State Control Over Education As Protests Escalate

[00:00:11]Tamil Nadu's battle with NEET is nearly a decade old. A fight shaped by student dreams, political promises, and public anger.

[00:00:24]Nine years ago, 17-year-old [music] Anitha's suicide became a defining moment in the anti-NEET movement.

[00:00:32]Today, the faces and political players have changed, but the demand remains the same.

[00:00:39]Scrap NEET.

[00:00:44]Ruling TVK [music] has taken an uncompromising stand, demanding the complete abolition of NEET.

[00:00:51]VJ's party has also called for shifting education, including medical education, from [music] the concurrent list to the state list, giving states greater control over admissions.

[00:01:26]The anti-NEET campaign has brought political rivals onto the same page.

[00:01:31]DMK chief M.K. Stalin backed the student protest, saying Tamil Nadu had warned of irregularities from the beginning, and that abolition was the only permanent solution.

[00:01:42]The anger has now moved from political speeches to the streets.

[00:01:47]Tamil rapper Thirukkural Arivu was detained outside the Tamil Nadu Secretariat after raising anti-NEET slogans.

[00:01:55]SFI and [music] DYFI activists were also detained during protest.

[00:02:03]>> [music] >> But amid the demonstrations, incidents of vandalism have added another layer to the controversy.

[00:02:11]With protesters blackening Hindi lettering in Madurai railway station sign board and demanding action [music] against the Prime Minister and the Education Minister.

[00:02:22]For Tamil Nadu, NEET remains more than an entrance exam.

[00:02:26]>> [music] >> It has become a decade-long political and emotional battle. Bureau report, [music] India today.

[00:02:36]>> Let's bring in Pramod Madhav for more details on this. Pramod, you know, we've seen of course a huge confrontation showdown over NEET previously as well.

[00:02:44]And now with this becoming a talking point, there was quite a bit of criticism for the TVK asking why they hadn't come out with a statement yet even as you know these protests were continuing for the last many days. Even in Tamil Nadu, we saw BJP protests and so I saw so many videos asking why isn't the Chief Minister spoken up? Now he has and the stand seems to be very very clear as far as NEET goes.

[00:03:06]>> Well, it clearly looks like you know the Chief Minister has also taken a very clear stand and it is very interesting to see that the stands of the Chief Minister also mirrors the stands of DMK on this subject as well Lakshita because he says that the only way to bring an to bring an end to NEET is either abolishing NEET and also bringing the education to the state list which has been a demand of DMK for a quite a long time claiming that that is the only way to protect the state's rights. And now he like the Chief Minister has also said that he has you know today since today morning only TVK leaders have started condemning this particular issue. It was first Minister Ada Varjuna and then we also had Minister Arun Raj very clearly saying that the Chief Minister wants the education to be brought to the state list and then we have Minister Ketana as well who has also responded to this. The important aspect is that like now the Chief Minister has also added that if there's going to be any kind of issue considering the legal formalities over bringing the education to the stateless.

[00:03:53]He is actually proposing creating something called as a kind of I don't know intermediate a concurrent list kind of something where actually an intermediate method where this country the education can be brought in and this could be resolved.

[00:04:04]But very clearly all the parties in the state of Tamil Nadu except for BJP are actually demanding that NEET should be abolished here Akshita.

[00:04:13]>> Okay, so you know you've got all parties essentially on the same page on NEET but ultimately none of them will actually manage to do anything about it. Can the TVK change that is the question. They're talking of making it a state subject easier said than done. Thanks Pramod for joining us with all of those details. I'm sorry