Against the backdrop of a Chennai boy ending his life over low scores in NEET and the subsequent death by suicide of his father, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday urged President Droupadi Murmu to grant assent to the State’s NEET Exemption Bill, which “was the collective will of the people of Tamil Nadu”.
Mr. Stalin, separately, announced his government’s decision to boycott Governor R.N. Ravi’s Independence Day ‘At Home’ at Raj Bhavan. However, by late evening, the Raj Bhavan said it had postponed the reception as the main lawns were flooded due to “incessant heavy rain” and there were predictions of rain for Tuesday.
The rescheduled date would be announced later. The Governor had recently said if left to himself, he would never ever grant assent to the NEET Exemption Bill.
In his letter to the President, Mr. Stalin said the Bill adopted was the “outcome of Legislative consensus, stemming from the collective will of the people of Tamil Nadu” and “each day of delay in its implementation costs not only valuable medical seats to deserving students but also invaluable human lives to our society.” He pointed out that the Bill was pending though the State government had given clarifications to comments raised by various Union Ministries.
“This has caused immense anxiety and stress in the minds of the students and parents. As a result, there have been various sad incidents of students (or their parents) committing suicide, depressed by their failure to get an admission through NEET,” Mr. Stalin contended.
The Chief Minister argued, “NEET-based selection process favours urban students and those who can afford costly coaching classes and hence is inherently against the poor and underprivileged.” Tamil Nadu wanted undergraduate medical course admission to be done only on the basis of Class XII marks, “the outcome of school education rather than a separate entrance exam which is an unwanted additional stress on students”.
Referring to suicides, he felt, “These tragedies could have been definitely avoided if our Bill for exemption from NEET had been given assent to.”
Earlier, he wondered whether the Governor was a “puppet” in the hands of NEET coaching centres. He cited the Governor’s delay in granting assent to a Bill against online gaming and also his meeting with those running online gaming companies. Now, the Governor was “inviting students to lecture them just like in coaching classes,” he charged.
“Governor Ravi’s heart would not melt even if there are more deaths like Jegadeshwaran’s. In the times of such stone-hearted people, there is no value for human lives,” he said while dubbing Mr. Ravi’s comments on the NEET Bill as a “stunt” as it was now with the President and not at the Raj Bhavan.
As for boycotting the ‘At Home’ reception, he said it was to protest the “confusion created in higher education and universities” (by Governor), refusal of assent to Bills adopted by the Legislature and his controversial statements in public forums.
He accused Mr. Ravi of making “unkind statements” in public forums, “refusing to realise that students and their parents from poor, downtrodden and the middle-class are losing their dreams and opportunities.”
‘Insulting anit-NEET protests’
“A person holding the Governor’s post has made this irresponsible statement insulting the anti-NEET protests which have been going on for over several months now,” he said.
“While those who care for the welfare of Tamils would be shaken by Tamils losing their lives the Governor’s actions suggests as if he doesn’t care about it,” Mr. Stalin charged.
The Tamil Nadu government “disregarded” the Governor’s political opinions on Aryam, Dravidam, DMK, Tiruvalluvar, Vallalar, Sanathana dharma and “ignored them as an Aryan lament”. “However, if he vows to destroy the dreams of students from poor, downtrodden and marginalised sections to become doctors, we would consider it a conspiracy on education,” he said.
“We are not someone who come to this State this year and leave the next year. The DMK is the only party that raises its voice for the rights of the people of Tamil Nadu irrespective of whether it is in power or not,” Mr. Stalin said.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)
