NEET protests in Tamil Nadu: TTV Dhinakaran announces public meet against medical exam on 16 September

Chennai: AIADMK Amma faction leader TTV Dhinakaran on Sunday announced that a public meeting would be held in protest against the common medical entrance examination NEET in Tiruchirapalli, two days after he cancelled a protest by his faction’s students wing in Chennai in view of a Supreme Court directive on the matter. [caption id=“attachment_3985221” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of TTV Dhinakaran. Facebook @TTV Dhinakaran[/caption] The sidelined AIADMK leader had called for the protest against the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) last week. He had tweeted that he was calling off the protest respecting the Supreme Court’s directive. In a party statement on Sunday, Dhinakaran said the public meeting would be held in Tiruchirapalli on 16 September. “I request party cadres, students and those interested in the welfare of the state to take part in it,” he said. On 5 September, Dhinakaran had announced that his party’s students wing would hold the protest demonstration in Chennai against the all-India test. He had alleged that the Centre was imposing NEET on the students with the “help” of the state government, thereby affecting the dreams of the students of getting admitted into medical colleges. Protests had erupted in Tamil Nadu soon after Anitha , the daughter of a daily wage earner, allegedly hanged herself at her house in Ariyalur district on 1 September. She was reportedly upset after reports emerged that Tamil Nadu would not be exempted from NEET. They claimed that the new system would disadvantage students of state boards.