Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Wednesday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on evacuation of students from Ukraine and asserted again that NEET is a stumbling block to pursuing medical education within the country and underscored growing support against it. The Centre should stop ‘blaming’ students and focus on evacuating them from Ukraine and PM Modi should ‘reign in’ union ministers from making ‘unwarranted’ statements, he said.
Yet again reiterating the Tamil Nadu government and DMK’s staunch opposition to NEET, Stalin said the national test is a stumbling block to pursue medical education within the country. Hence, getting NEET rescinded must be the immediate goal, he said and expressed grief over the deaths of two Indian students in Ukraine.
“That goal is not far away. Let us together struggle and win,” he said in a statement.
Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy has also now supported this and in a few other states too this demand has now started to echo, he said. Student Naveen, belonging to Karnataka, who was killed in Ukraine had secured 97 per cent marks in his Class XII examination. However, he lost the opportunity to pursue medicine due to ‘NEET’. As he could not spend a lot, he chose Ukraine and he had no other option, Stalin said in a statement. NEET prevented poor, ordinary and middle class students from getting medical education and the struggle to get it cancelled is to remove that danger, he said, adding the Ukraine crisis has now reinforced it and has given a very strong reason for cancelling it.
The demand is for the benefit of not only Tamil Nadu students but across the country, he said. In a tweet, the Chief Minister said he was saddened by the news from Ukraine that Indian students have been left in the lurch in the foreign soil at this critical hour.
“While students face war attacks and hostile borders, the Union Government should stop blaming on students & focus on evacuating them to safety. It is the responsibility of the Indian Government to safeguard the life of every Indian passport holder. PMO India should reign in their Ministers from issuing unwarranted statements and put in their efforts for evacuating every Indian safely.”
The Centre’s ‘opinions’ on students stuck in Ukraine, union ministers’ ‘interviews’ on the matter and the posts in social media in favour of the central government rubbed salt into the wound, Stalin alleged in the statement. Giving up such a tendency, the Centre should come forward to save the lives of each and every Indian student in Ukraine, he said. “This is not the appropriate time for campaigning or for indulging in publicity. This is the moment to save students who are struggling to save their lives and future. I would like to remind that this is a very important time to instill confidence in them and bring them back home”.
Students who went to Ukraine were persons who could not pursue medical education domestically and it is the paramount duty of PM Modi to warn his cabinet colleagues and pro-BJP people from making comments that trivialized their struggle, he said.
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