Chennai's ruling party, the DMK has refused to attend the 'At Home Reception' organised by Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on April 14, Thursday. The DMK cited, through State Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu, that people's sentiments would be hurt if it attended the meeting. This comes as a result of the ongoing tussle between the DMK and the Central Government over the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET).
The TN government has been seeking exemption from NEET, stating that it doesn't cater to the requirements of rural school students. Earlier in April, the TN High Court had stayed the 7.5% reservation in medical colleges for the government school students of Tamil Nadu. Recently, Minister Thennarasu and Health Minister Ma Subramanian met the Governor at the Raj Bhavan over the status of the second Assembly Bill seeking exemption of the state from NEET. On Thursday, the minister said that the Bill was not given approval yet, but was under consideration by the Governor. He added that the Governor did not give any guarantee on sending the approval and neither did he provide a time-frame.
In this situation, participation in the Governor's event would be "belittling the dignity of the century-old Assembly and hurting the overall sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu," the Minister said, in a PTI report. DMK ally CPI(M) also decided to boycott the event. The same is the case for the Congress, which is another DMK-alliance partner. Thennarasu said that the Governor had, in a previous meeting, told Chief Minister MK Stalin that he would refer the Bill for Presidential assent.
Tamil Nadu has been seeking exemption from NEET since 2017 when Dalit girl Anitha committed suicide. The ruling party at the time, the AIADMK, had also called for an Assembly Resolution seeking exemption from the entrance test. DMK had promised to abolish NEET in the state since it came to power in May 2021. The first Bill against NEET had been sent in September 2021 and the House passed the second Resolution in February this year after the Governor had returned the first Bill. The issue had been taken to PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah but it yielded no results, Minister Thennarasu pointed out.
Chief Minister Stalin was also slated to attend the unveiling of a statue of the national poet Mahakavi Subramaniya Bharathiyar later on this day, which coincides with Tamil New Year. As for the future course of action for the NEET Exemption Bill, Minister Thennarasu said that MK Stalin will discuss the issue and decide on it.
