Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi participated in an event to felicitate NEET rank-holders from Tamil Nadu. He addressed a gathering of students and parents on 12 August 2023. A Ramasamy, a parent whose daughter had cleared the NEET exam, asked Governor Ravi a question about whether he intended to endorse the anti-NEET Bill.
In response, Governor Ravi said, “I will be the last man to give clearance [to the NEET exemption Bill], never ever! I do not want my children to feel intellectually disabled,”.
The Indian Express reports that Ramasamy works at the Salem Steel Plant and had spent ₹4 lakh annually for coaching over the past 4 years and that he said on the sidelines of the event at Raj Bhavan, “You said our standards are very high and our medical system is very good. But all of these were achieved without NEET,”.
The Bill is currently awaiting review by the President.
However, it has come to light that the same Ramasamy is in fact a member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The ruling DMK is against the NEET exam.
In the pictures shared on social media, Ramasamy can be seen wearing DMK flag and canvassing. There are also photos of him paying homage to the late DMK patriarch Karunanidhi.
But many mainstream news outlets had tried to portray as if a parent without political affiliation was against the NEET exam.
இப்படி சிக்கிட்டீங்களே திமுக காரரே https://t.co/LYlpU3Qodn pic.twitter.com/evMLhLe8Ti
— Poongodi Suganth (@PoongodiSugandh) August 13, 2023
The Chief Minister, MK Stalin, also was seen playing NEET politics over an Indian student’s death in the Ukraine war claiming that had there been no NEET, the student wouldn’t have been in such a situation. He has also said that NEET bars the poor from pursuing their medical dreams and the ruling state government (DMK) in Tamil Nadu was working proactively to do away with the exam.
It is to be noted that several students from government schools, lower economic backgrounds, and oppressed communities have in fact cracked the NEET exam and secured medical seats over the years. Read more on this here and here.
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