Battle over NEET: Tamil Nadu assembly resolution sparks protests

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu assembly Friday once again passed a resolution urging Union govt to exempt the state from NEET and to allow it to admit students to medical colleges based on Plus-Two examination marks. The resolution also said Centre should "totally scrap NEET".
BJP walked out in protest while AIADMK MLAs were not present as they had been suspended Wednesday for the rest of the session. CM M K Stalin moved the resolution, which said, "NEET, which spoiled medical education dreams of rural and poor students, made school education unnecessary and took away rights of states to admit its students in state's medical colleges, should be abolished."
Stalin said NEET had made medical education inaccessible to rural and poor students. He said DMK had been repeatedly demanding abolition of NEET since it came into effect in 2017. "The malpractices, cheating and scams connected to the recently declared results of NEET had made students lose faith in the exam," he said.
LoP Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal CM Mamata Bannerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, and RJD chief Tejaswi Yadav had opposed NEET and demanded that it be scrapped, Stalin said.
TVK neta T Velmurugan said NEET affected students psychologically and that he knew as he himself was the father of an affected student. He urged Stalin to gather opposition MPs & disrupt Parliament until NEET was withdrawn.
MMK's M H Jawahirullah said NTA has a RSS link and didn't have the right to conduct NEET. OPS supporter and AIADMK MLA Manoj Pandian said amendments were required to get exemption from NEET and that state govts should file review pleas with evidence NEET was flawed.
BJP MLA Nainar Nagendran opposed remarks against the NTA and walked out. TNN