The DMK on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Assembly, expressing dissatisfaction with Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar’s response to its suggestion that the State government should use the vice-presidential polls to bring pressure to bear on the Centre on finding a solution to the NEET issue.
Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin, who raised the issue in the Assembly, said that the State government could not rely on the High Court to resolve this matter. “The government should have utilised the presidential election to secure the [presidential] nod for the Bills passed in the Assembly seeking exemption for the State from NEET. The students as well as their parents will not forgive the State and the Centre for betraying them. The government should at least use the vice-presidential election to further this cause and make amends for its failure,” he said.
DMK deputy leader Duraimurugan said that the State government, in its effort to secure the exemption from NEET, should have adopted a method similar to the one it used to get the nod for conducting jallikattu . “It [the State government] is fully responsible for the stalemate and should quit, owning responsibility,” he said.
Rejecting the parallels between NEET and jallikattu , Mr. Vijaya Baskar argued that while the former was a nation-wide issue, the latter was confined to Tamil Nadu. “NEET is an all-India issue. Even States like Gujarat and Bihar have accepted it,” he said.
At one point during the heated exchanges between DMK leaders and the Health Minister, the discussion veered towards the question of whether it was the AIADMK or the DMK that was responsible for letting NEET happen.
Mr. Vijaya Baskar pointed out that the DMK had failed to prevent the Medical Council of India from introducing NEET in 2011, when it was part of the Congress-led UPA government.
Mr. Stalin retorted, asserting that the DMK had ensured that NEET was not implemented as long as it was in power. “When it was first announced in 2010, the then Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, wrote to the then Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, expressing his objection. It finally came into force only in 2013,” he noted.
Addressing mediapersons, Mr. Stalin said that student representatives had requested him to lead an all-party delegation to meet the President over this issue. “If we are not able to find a solution, the students will organise a protest. They have sought the DMK’s support and we will consider their request,” he added.
