DMK raises NEET issue in Parliament, stages walk out

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Monday hit out at the Centre and staged a walkout in both houses of Parliament for rejecting two resolutions passed by Tamil Nadu Assembly seeking an exemption to the state from writing the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

Raising the issue in Lok Sabha during Zero Hour, Leader of the DMK in the House, T R Baalu said the two Bills were adopted by the state Assembly and was rejected by the Governor after 27 months.

"Are we ruled by the Centre," he asked amid uproar by Congress leaders on the political crisis in Karnataka and stated that the rejection shows that the Centre did not consider the value of the resolutions passed by the Assembly.

He had earlier brought an adjournment motion to discuss the issue, which was rejected by Speaker Om Birla. He was, however, allowed to raise his issue.

"You put the bills in cold storage for 27 months, the Centre informs the court that it has been rejected," said Baalu.

The former union minister said several young girls who aspired to become doctors had committed suicide (because of NEET) and the reason was that the exams are conducted based on CBSE syllabus and the students from State Board are disadvantaged.

Amid the din, Baalu also demanded a response from the government on the issues. As there was no response from the government, the DMK members staged a walkout.

In Rajya Sabha, the issue was raised by the party's senior member Tiruchi Siva.

"It is totally against the spirit of federalism. Disowning the decisions of state Assembly is not acceptable," he said and the DMA members walked out of the Upper House.

NEET, which was declared illegal and unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2013, was restored in April 2016, by a five-judge constitution bench that allowed the Centre and the Medical Council of India (MCI) to implement the common entrance test.

In 2016, following requests from states like Tamil Nadu, government colleges were granted exemption from NEET for a year. This ended in 2017.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly had passed two Bills with the support of all parties in 2017 for the state to be exempted from the test.