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.

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).

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

Vijay condemns Rahul Gandhi’s detention

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.

He also gave suggestions for how it could be done, ending his note with, “The Union Government must respect the sentiments of our people and our students. Consequently, the NEET examination must be completely scrapped. We reiterate that this is the only solution to this issue.” Given that Vijay has often spoken about NEET during the elections and his alliance with the Congress, many were surprised by his silence on the matter since the Cockroach Janata Party and Sonam Wangchuk began their protest.

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.