NEET, 'masquerading' as a measure of merit, is a 'scam' and the Centre must stop defending the national test as it went against the interests of students and it is also against social justice and poor, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Sunday.

Stalin, also the president of the ruling DMK said in a post on X: "The ongoing controversies around #NEET highlight its fundamentally inequitable nature. In a society where education has been denied for thousands of years, we should offer more opportunities for advancement of the oppressed. On the contrary, NEET hinders the opportunities of such students."

He said: "Despite the Union Education Minister's defense of the National Testing Agency (NTA), recent events paint a different picture. The Gujarat Police have registered an FIR over allegations of invigilators tampering with OMR sheets in exchange for monetary benefits, involving cheques worth several crore rupees and eight blank cheques. This conspiracy, implicating a school principal, a physics teacher, and several NEET coaching centres, underscores the urgent need for systemic change."

Furthermore, the CM said, "from martyr Anitha to the countless students who have tragically taken their own lives, we have witnessed enough. NEET, an examination masquerading as a measure of merit, has repeatedly revealed itself as a pervasive scam affecting all levels of society. The union government must stop defending this anti-student, anti-social justice, and anti-poor NEET system."

S Anitha, a Scheduled Caste Tamil girl, who knocked on the doors of the court to chase her dream to pursue a course in medicine ended her life in 2017. She is regarded as a crusader for justice by champions of social justice and mainstream political parties in Tamil Nadu.

The Kerala Congress on its twitter handle said: "This is the marks card of Anitha, a Dalit girl from Tamil Nadu's Ariyalur district who got 1176/1200 (98%) in her 12th standard but died by suicide after her fight against NEET failed after the Supreme Court dismissed her pleas. Today, when you see candidates who failed in Physics and Chemistry score 705/720 in NEET, you realise how unfair and one-sided the system is. Anitha is a martyr in this fight."

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