‘NEET 2024 results prove our principled opposition to exam; eradicate this malady’: MK Stalin

NEW DELHI: Taking a jibe at the ongoing row over NEET UG 2024 results, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin reiterated the party’s opposition to the National Eligibility Entrance Test. The minister called upon the people to join hands and get rid of the ‘malady’. NEET UG result 2024 declared on May 14 sparked a huge controversy over early announcement, 67 toppers, grace marks, and paper leak claims.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Stalin said, “Trends emerging from the latest NEET results have once again vindicated our principled opposition to the exam.” The state CM, who has been opposing the exam for years, remarked that the issues in NEET result 2024 such as alleged paper leak, ‘clustering’ of NEET toppers 2024 at a particular centre, and awarding of grace marks highlights the risk of union government’s centralisation. The marks given to candidates ‘under the disguise’ of grace marks are mathematically impossible, he said.

Stalin took the opportunity to bring up the importance of the role of school education system and state government in the selection of students for a professional course such as MBBS. “These events emphasise the need to restore the preeminence State governments' and school education system's role in determining criteria for professional course selection,” was his statement.

The TN chief reiterated that the NEET exam and other entrance exams are ‘anti-poor’. These exams undermine ‘federal polity’, they are against social justice; and NEET impacts the availability of doctors in deserving areas, he added. "Let’s join hands to eradicate this malady. That day is not far!," the minister stated.

In 2021, DMK president MK Stalin introduced a bill in the state assembly to exempt Tamil Nadu from the NEET exam and conduct medical admissions based on Class 12 scores. The minister even urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to scrap NEET. Since then, Stalin has been requesting presidential assent on the bill. In October last year, he wrote to president Droupadi Murmu to pass the anti-NEET bill.