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“I am nobody’s adopted son”: DMK sympathizer tries to politicize TN student’s NEET success, student clears the air

The Commune

Jeevith Kumar, and student of Silvarpatti Government Higher Secondary School in Theni district who studied in Tamil medium had scored 664 out of 720 in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2020.

His father K. Narayanamoorthi is a goat herder while his mother N. Parameswari is a MGNREGA worker.

Jeevith upon completing his 12th std in 2018-19 academic year started preparing for NEET by enrolling himself at a coaching institute in Namakkal after he scored 190 marks in the previous year’s exam.

His hardwork paid off as he stood at rank 1823 at the national level, the first time a government school student from Tamil Nadu has made it to the top.

However, as soon as news of his feat made headlines, a video went viral in which a lady named Sabarimaala had claimed that Jeevith was her student and that she had resigned from her government school teacher job just to fulfill the promise she made to Anitha (the girl from Ariyalur who committed suicide for failing in NEET).

Later, she had posted another video in her social media stating that Jeevith was her adopted son and Jeevith’s success in the exam was her ‘own personal victory’. Sabarimaala had claimed in her video that ‘BJP groups’ had threatened Jeevith Kumar by going to his home and went on a rant targeting the AIADMK and the BJP.

Sensing that his success in the exam was being politicized unnecessarily, Jeevith released a video in which he clarified that his success cannot be attributed to just one person but to everyone who had who had helped him in his preparation.

In the video, he started by thanking the teachers and the head masters of the government schools he studied in. “All the teachers motivated me, helped me and kept supporting throughout my preparation.” Jeevith said. He especially thanked headmaster Mohan and Arul Murugan, part-time teacher at the Siluvaarpatti Higher Secondary School for their continued guidance.

“After completing 12th standard I started preparing for NEET. I had completed 12th in the old syllabus. Since it wasn’t in NEET syllabus I was not able to score marks that year and couldn’t get a seat in government college. But now, it has changed. Now Tamil Nadu syllabus is in line with NEET syllabus. Government school students can easily clear the exam if they thoroughly study this syllabus.” Jeevith said.

He mentioned that he had planned to join a coaching centre for NEET and that his parents were planning to put in their savings for it. He said that his headmaster, teachers and Arulmurugan had extended to offer help financially and went on to thank them for it.

He mentioned that he met Sabarimaalaa through his teacher Arulmurugan. She had come to his school for an awareness programme on sexual harassment against women. Jeevith said that Sabarimaalaa had one day come to his school and shot a video at the entrance asking him if he would clear NEET and that she would support him. That video was shared by Sabarimaalaa on her Facebook which was seen by a man named Godwin who had offered to help through Sabarimaalaa. Jeevith in his video thanks both Sabarimaalaa and Godwin for their help.

“I can’t attribute my success to just one person. All people – people who I have met, people who I have not even seen, have all extended their help for me and I am thankful for them.” Jeevith said.

“I just saw the video shared by Sabarimaalaa madam in which she says that few party people came and threatened me. I did not even know about this video and came to know about it only through social media. Nothing of that sort happened. Nobody threatened me. Many people came and appreciated me. I felt good and happy.” Jeevith said.

“Madam [Sabarimaalaa] had repeatedly kept claiming in her video that I was her adopted son. One thing needs to understood here. I am first son to my parents. All teachers who had taught me till 12th have stood by me. My parents have not given me to anybody for adoption. I am a son to my parents. All teachers were my ‘Arivu Thaai’ (knowledge mothers). I request Sabarimaalaa madam to not spread any kind of misleading information about me.” Jeevith stated in his video.

Following this video, netizens lashed out Sabarimaalaa for milking a poor boy’s achievements to her own personal and political agenda. It was also found that Sabarimaalaa is in fact a person who is a DMK sympathizer.

 

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