NEET-UG: Who is Nitin Vijay AKA NV Sir, Founder, Motion Education? Why did he withdraw his SC petition?

In the midst of the uproar against the National Eligibility and Entrance Test for Undergraduates (NEET-UG) exam and the various irregularities that surfaced, one of the frontrunners from the industry backed out from the good fight, raising several eyebrows and eventually, fingers as well.

While students are precariously suspended in a situation that further creates a sense of confusion, many fear that the withdrawal of the support of the industry's big players might slacken their cause.

The Pandey-Vijay Saga
Alakh Pandey, CEO of Physics Wallah, an EdTech company jumped onto the bandwagon, creating a discussion surrounding the affair. His YouTube channels were flooded with videos informing viewers about the disputes and complications that arose with the exam this year. Most of his videos in a short form format have garnered more than 200k views.

One such video that he had uploaded questioned the National Testing Agency (NTA) as to how the 1563 students were awarded grace marks, who was given the grace marks, how much and on what basis. The video till now has garnered more than 244k views along with other videos on the Physicswallah channel. 

Not only this, the educator and entrepreneur went straight to the apex court of the country by filing a petition on June 4, 2024, demanding that the issue of the award of grace marks awarded to students be looked into, and had requested the Supreme Court to scrutinise the conducting affairs further, and the results. It may be recalled that the National Testing Agency (NTA), a day after the results which were declared, on June 5, had informed about the allocation of grace marks to certain candidates to make up for the time loss at certain exam centres. 

What happened to beloved NV Sir aka Jeetu Bhaiya?
Pandey was not the only one to have raised objections to NEET irregularities. 

Another beloved academician and entrepreneur who is followed by many, Nitin Vijay, popularly known as NV Sir, also raised concerns. Founder and CEO of Motion Education, NV sir helped students with their cause and also filed a petition with the Supreme Court against the National Testing Agency (NTA), the Department of Higher Education and the Union Ministry of Education, on June 12, 2024, taking the issue further ahead.

What further added fuel to the fire was the fact that NV had deleted all of his posts on social media and videos on YouTube, related to the issue.

"This had to happen"
The CEO and Founder of Careers360, one of the leading educational products and services company, Maheshwar Peri (@mahesperi) highlighted the point on social media platform X, claiming that such actions were in tow and expected to happen.

"This had to happen. The fight by some of the coaching institutions was never for the students. They didn't want to be left behind. They lost the battle by making grace marks the big issue. When NTA gave in, they claimed victory too. Now under pressure, they are caving in," read the tweet.

Another tweet by journalist Sanket Upadhyay (@sanket), further highlighted that NV Sir has deleted all his tweets, whereas, Alakh Pandey is no longer releasing long-form videos on Physics Wallah's YouTube channel and has resorted to Shorts instead.

According to netizens, as the crisis swelled up, the Motion Education Founder had circulated a Google Form requesting NEET aspirants to share their details such as email, phone number and NEET results so that this can be compiled and submitted to the Supreme Court. Allegedly, more than 20,000 students had filled out the form.

After the withdrawal of the petition, several students now question the intent behind the petition and why it was withdrawn.

Although EdexLive has sought clarification, it is awaiting a response from NV Sir, and his team.

"NV's truth": What did he say previously?
However, a video uploaded three weeks ago on Motion Education's YouTube channel Motion - NV Sir titled NV Sir ka SACH!! addresses a few queries such as that of the deletion of posts.

In the video, NV Sir can be seen talking about the power of social media and how it was used by people to raise the issue. He also commends the Union Education Ministry and the Supreme Court to have given much-needed assurance to the students at a time of crisis.

He also urges and requests everyone to have faith in the system, as they are addressing the issue, and exhorts students "to wait for the verdict patiently as good citizens of the country."

He further says, "I get repeated requests from students to appear on national television and voice the issues on social media, but I do not find any objective behind it."

Providing further clarification, he informed his viewers that his agenda as a teacher lies somewhere else.

"Everyone must have dreamt of appearing on television, but I feel that it is not my job to do right now. My work only entails looking after students and teaching them," said Nitin Vijay.

While advocating for these issues, there are certain risks that these public personalities expose themselves to, often giving rise to contentious statements, Hence, NV Sir believes that there can be debate, controversies and other political angles added to the issue, further providing no solution to the problem, hence, he says, "Children would suffer more if the issue is diverted towards other problems. This would prove more harmful, hence I don't want to venture there."

Many students from all over the country have also asked if he had received any threats or enticing offers to withdraw his statements, which he clearly refuted.

"About my deletion of social media posts, there was a high chance that I would have received strikes for the content which, in turn, would have led to their deletion. If I take that risk then, how am I going to communicate with you (viewers)," he reasoned on deletion of posts.

No space for controversies
As per another X post dated June 14, by a user named Shantanu (@shaandelhite), "Director of Motion Institute Nitin Vijay, who walked with Rahul Gandhi Ji during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, exposes NTA and the Education Minister...", and shared a video of Nitin Vijay giving his views on the prospects of Re-NEET.

NV sir went on to rebuke the user and said, "Please refrain from politicizing this issue. I have not said anything against the ministry or the Government of India. I have full faith in the government and the honorable Supreme Court. It is my request to not misinterpret my statement and delete this post."

While many users support him, many have questioned his further lack of support for the students, as the educator has absolutely restricted himself from posting any further.

Nitin Vijay contended that there would be a final verdict on the issue on July 8. However, it may be noted that before the second hearing today, Thursday, July 11, the Chief Justice of India deferred the matter to next Thursday, that is, July 18.

While netizens still demand an explanation, a user named Kajal Kumari on X, out of mockery, commented, "This was not unexpected from you Sir... from Motion to no Motion..."