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Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay breaks silence on students' protests: ‘Scrap NEET, respect sentiments’

Actor and TN CM Vijay had based a portion of his political campaign before the elections on the issues regarding NEET.

Updated on: Jul 22, 2026, 15:20:28 IST
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Tamil superstar and Tamil Nadu chief minister, C Joseph Vijay, has broken the silence on the students’ protests taking place across the country. A portion of his political campaign before the elections focused on irregularities in NEET exams. After Rahul Gandhi was detained for protesting against the lathi charge and tear gas used during the Chalo Sansad march, Vijay condemned everything that had happened in a long note on X (formerly Twitter).

Vijay condemns Rahul Gandhi’s detention

Tamil Nadu chief minister and actor Vijay reiterated his stance from before the elections.
Tamil Nadu chief minister and actor Vijay reiterated his stance from before the elections.

On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi was briefly detained by the Delhi police during a sit-in protest outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence. “The arrest of several leaders—including the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Mr Rahul Gandhi—who stepped forward to support the youth protesting in Delhi against the irregularities in the NEET examination, is undemocratic,” wrote Vijay, criticising the same.

Extends support to protests being held

Vijay also stated that he and his party, Tamizhaga Vettri Kazhagam, extend their support to the protest now being staged by opposition parties. As for the NEET exams, he reiterated his stance from before the elections. “TVK’s uncompromising stance is that the NEET examination system must be completely abolished. We will never make false promises—using a system that severely affects not only students but also their families—merely for the sake of vote-bank politics,” he wrote.

Celebrities support students' protests

The protesting students have demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. On Monday, the Chalo Sansad march from Jantar Mantar to Parliament on the first day of the Monsoon session led to police action. Since then, numerous celebrities have broken their silence to condemn the police action during the march. Some celebrities, such as Prakash Raj, Shabana Azmi and rapper Hanumankind, took part in the protest in Delhi.

Gurfateh Pirzada, Pratibha Ranta, Shalini Pandey, and Akasa Singh took part in the protest in Mumbai, while rapper Arivu took part in the protest in Chennai and was briefly detained by the police. Several others showed their support on social media.

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeshita Nyayapati

Despite having a Master's degree in Journalism and over a decade of experience in print and digital media as a field reporter and sub-editor at organisations such as The Times of India and Reader's Digest, Neeshita Nyayapati remains a movie buff first and a Chief Content Producer second. She fell in love with movies in childhood and believes nothing matches the magic of watching a good film that moves you with a warm tub of popcorn in hand. Her love for writing about cinema follows that. Come Friday, you'll find her at her happy place, the movies, catching the latest rom-com or masala offering, for reviews or otherwise. As for the rest of the week, she's here reporting the juiciest news in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi or bringing out the best of celebs in interviews. While her niche is Telugu cinema, Neeshita likes to dabble in a little bit of everything to stay up to date. From film announcements to scandals and hard news angles, she has explored it all. A good book, a comforting cup of hot chocolate, puppy kisses and a stunning beach view are all she needs to unwind. Her passion for biking and travelling has taken her to various places across the country. She has found peace in everything from the frozen lakes of Gangtok to the coffee plantations of Coorg and the dense forests of Bandipur, to the monasteries of Darjeeling. But no matter where she goes, Neeshita loves coming across inspiring and moving stories.

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