Members of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and Students Federation of India (SFI) courted arrest in various parts of Chennai after staging protests against National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) on Sunday morning.
Over 1.17 lakhs aspirants who have registered for NEET are taking the test across different centres in Tamil Nadu.
Five students who were supposed to sit for the exams have reportedly ended their lives in different parts of the State. The deaths have triggered reactions from different political parties, who condemned the Central government for going ahead with the exams.
On Sunday morning, members of DYFI and SFI staged protests in different parts of the city including Ayanavaram, Vepery, R.K. Nagar and Aminjikarai. In some places, they attempted to stage road roko and were picked up by the police
“We have been demanding that the government to scrap NEET for a long time. Especially during COVID1-19, when students have been struggling with their regular classes, they would have found it hard to prepare for such a tough entrance examination,” said L. Vignesh, district secretary, Central Chennai, SFI, who was arrested near Aminjikarai.
K. Manikandan, DYFI district president, Central Chennai, said that the State government should ban NEET. “Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami should not remain silent. He should demand that the Centre cancel the exams,” he demanded.
The arrested have been housed in marriage halls and are expected to be released in the evening.
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