The DMK aided and abetted by the Congress and the lefts have decided to violate the Supreme Court order on the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) and launch a massive agitation all over Tami Nadu from Monday. Though the apex court had asked the State Government on Friday to see to it that normal life is not at all affected in Tamil Nadu because of any kind of agitation, the DMK and its allies are out to disturb normal life under the pretext of “peaceful agitations” against NEET.
Interestingly, the decision to implement NEET for admission to undergraduate and graduate courses in medicine and dental sciences across the country was brought in by the UPA Government led by the Congress in which the DMK was the second most largest constituent. The DMK which was defeated in the 2011 assembly election as well as in the 2014 lok Saha election has so access to the corridors of power and this has made the party to do a volte face over the NEET issue by declaring its “vehement opposition” to the legislation which was implemented by the UPA Government in 2012.
“Stalin is stoking regional and parochial feelings in the State by campaigning against the NEET with an eye on the vote bank. The DMK is frustrated over its failure to regain power in Tamil Nadu at a stage when party president M Karunanidhi has been confined to his bed due to age related issues. Stalin, who is the working president of the party, is losing patience over the delay in regaining power either in the State or in the Centre,” said veteran political commentator.
He pointed out that since 1996 till 2013, the DMK had enjoyed uninterrupted power being part of the Government either at Chennai or at New Delhi. “Except for a brief period of one year during 1998 to 1999, the DMK was part of the ruling dispensation at the Centre sharing the fruits power with the Congress or the BJP. Since 2013 the Dravidian major has been in complete political wilderness. This is a major test for Stalin and that is why he is getting impatient,” said the commentator who did not want his name to be mentioned.
Stalin declared on Friday at Tiruchirappalli that the DMK would soon dislodge the AIADMK Government. By Sunday he went one step further and declared at Chennai that the BJP was conspiring against him and the DMK to prevent their ascension to power. “It is the BJP which is propping up the AIADMK Government in Tamil Nadu. It is doing so because the party wants to keep the DMK from coming to power. The BJP knows well that once the DMK captures power in Tamil Nadu, it will remain there for 25 years,” declared Stalin while speaking in a marriage function at Chennai on Sunday.
The DMK-led Opposition has found a new ally in its agitation against the NEET, in the form of a minority-run educational institution in Chennai. Students from a minority management run college and leaders belonging to the left parties had deployed girls studying in a Government higher secondary school along the arterial roads on Saturday demonstrating against the NEET and this threw traffic in Chennai haywire.
“What surprised us was the number of girls studying in the 8th and 9th standards who took part in the demonstration.
They do not know what NEET stands for. No doubt, the DMK-led opposition is using NEET controversy for narrow political ends,” said a senior police official.