Tamil Nadu: BJP accuses DMK of politicising student's suicide with NEET Exclusion Bill

Lashing out at DMK's NEET Permanent Exclusion Bill, BJP Tamil Nadu chief K Annamalai on Sunday, claimed that DMK was responsible for a NEET aspirant's death with its politicisation. Annamalai pointed out that while the student's suicide was heart-breaking, NEET was passed after Supreme Court scrutiny and in 2020, Tamil Nadu had seen the highest number of students passing. CM MK Stalin has tabled a bill in the Assembly to scrap the NEET-based admissions to medical colleges.

BJP lashes out at DMK over NEET

After Salem student Dhanush's death by suicide fearing failure for the third time in the qualifying exam, Stalin vowed to bring a Bill against the exam. Concerned over the issue, CM Stalin said, "Another death on the altar of NEET. Let education be a qualification and let destroy qualifications alone for the education itself which is injustice. Tomorrow we will bring the Permanent Exemption Bill for NEET. Let us take NEET as an issue of the Indian subcontinent."

Earlier in the week, ex-Congress chief  Rahul Gandhi slammed the Centre after the Supreme Court refused to entertain a petition seeking rescheduling or deferring the NEET UG- 21. Gandhi had said, "Government of India (GOI) is blind to the students' distress. Postpone the NEET exam. Let them have a fair chance." The NEET 2021 examination was delayed due to the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. DMK has always urged the Centre to remove the NEET exam over multiple student deaths.

Recently, SC refused to defer the exam stated that the students should 'burn the midnight oil' and prepare for the examinations. It further stated that the Court's intervention would cause 'strain and pain' to many students. Moreover, it also asked the petitioners to refrain from using the apex court as a platform to defer the exams. However, the Court said that the students are free to make a representation before the authorities.

NEET held on September 12

The National-level Medical entrance exam NEET 2021 concluded on September 12 with 16 lakh students undertook it. The exam was held offline in pen and paper-based mode and the results will be soon released. The  NEET-UG 2021 exam was conducted in nearly 13 languages including Hindi, Punjabi, Assamese, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Urdu as well as English. The total number of cities where the NEET-UG 2021 was also been increased from 155 to 198.