Youth Welfare and Sports Development Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Sunday said he was ready to listen to Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi, and would speak in favour of NEET, if Mr. Ravi contests an election against an ordinary cadre of the DMK and wins.
“Resign from your post. Select a constituency. Meet the people and explain your ideology. The people of Tamil Nadu will beat you with chappals,” he said, while participating in a fast demanding the scrapping of NEET by the youth wing, the students’ wing and the medical wing of the DMK.
Mr. Udhayanidhi, who is also the leader of the party’s youth wing, said the Governor had the temerity and the arrogance to say that he will never give clearance to the Bill against NEET. “Who are you, Mr. Governor? What authority do you have? Are you a people’s representative? You are a postman. You carry the messages of the Chief Minister to the Union government,” he said.
Recalling the advice he had received that he should not participate in the protest as it would create a legal crisis and could lead to his disqualification as a Minister, Mr. Udhayanidhi said he was ready to lose anything, including his ministerial post, to secure the students’ right to education.
“The DMK is not a party that is interested only in power. I am not participating in the protest as a Minister or a leader, but as an ordinary man and a brother of all the 21 lives lost to NEET,” he said. He alleged that those 21 students had not committed suicide, but were murdered by the BJP government at the Centre, and that the AIADMK also had a role in assisting the BJP in committing the murder.
On the demand that action be taken against Ammasiappan, the father of a student who had questioned the Governor over NEET, he said, “Let them take action. The people of Tamil Nadu will not spare them. What is wrong with questioning the Governor?”
If anything happened to Ammasiappan, the DMK will not remain a mute spectator, he said.
Reiterating the DMK’s commitment to securing an exemption for Tamil Nadu from NEET, he said the fast was only the beginning. “We should go to every college. We fought for our right for jallikattu. Should we not fight for the rights of students? I request the students to be patient. Our leader will certainly get Tamil Nadu exempted from NEET,” he said.
Mr. Udhayanidhi said NEET would be cancelled if the BJP is defeated and a government led by the Congress is elected in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, because Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had given a promise to abolish NEET.
“The people of Tamil Nadu will not forgive the BJP and the AIADMK. Let the AIADMK adopt a resolution against NEET in its Madurai conference, because all political parties voted against NEET,” he said.
Mr Udhayanidhi also challenged former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to send a representative of his party to stage a protest in front of the Prime Minister’s residence. “If NEET is cancelled, the AIADMK can take full credit for it,” he said.
DMK general secretary Duraimurugan inaugurated the fast. Dravidar Kazhagam leader Veeramani ended the fast by offering fruit juice to Mr. Udhayanidhi.
