The suicide of S. Anitha, a Scheduled Caste student who could not join MBBS course despite scoring 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in her Class XII State Board examinations because of her poor marks in NEET, triggered a slew of protests across Madurai district on Saturday.
About 30 cadre of May 17 movement attempted to gherao the office of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Melamadai but were arrested by the police.
ADVERTISEMENT
A group of cadre from VCK, who burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tallakulam and staged a road roko, were detained by the police.
The city witnessed protests near Periyar bus stand, Tamukkam Ground, Pandalkudi, Panagal Road, and Palanganatham.
A group of advocates who staged a road blockade near the district court complex were detained by the police.
ADVERTISEMENT
The protesters raised slogans against the Central and State governments which, they said, were responsible for the suicide of Anitha. They demanded the immediate abolishment of National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET).
P. Kathiravan, Madurai urban district secretary, VCK, who led a protest at Tallakulam, said that his party and other like-minded parties would not give up the protest until the union government gave up NEET.
The city police said that more than 200 people from various organisations were detained across the city for the protests.
Sources said that a man from a Tamil nationalist outfit climbed Yanaimalai near Othakadai and threatened to commit suicide from the hillock as a protest.
He was subsequently persuaded and brought down by the police.
MLA expresses angst
In a strongly worded statement, Madurai Central MLA P.T.R.P. Thiagarajan said Anitha’s suicide had made him wonder, for the first time, whether his decision to enter politics was wrong. Mr. Thiagarajan said that he felt ashamed to be a politician, even if his party was in the opposition, for the collective failure to save Anitha.
“Even if things were settled - one way or the other - by March, students would have made clear choices and moved on. But the manoeuvring by the Central and State governments went on till mid-August, leaving the students with no clarity,” he said.
Candle light vigil
Meanwhile, a group of youngsters who had come to attend the ongoing book fair here on Saturday, assembled outside Tamukkam Ground and held a candle light vigil to condole the death of Anitha.
They raised slogans against Central and State governments blaming them for her suicide.
As the vigil went on for about 30 minutes, with some of the participants live-streaming the event through social media, police personnel rushed to the spot and detained them.