"Not Suicide, But Murder': Tamil Nadu Minister On NEET Aspirant's Death

Tamil Nadu Minister for Youth Welfare Udhayanidhi Stalin on Sunday held the Central government responsible for the suicide of a National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) aspirant after failing to clear the exam twice and called it a "murder."

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)'s student wing and the medical wing began a state-wide hunger strike demanding the abolition of the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) in Chennai on Sunday.

Udhayanidhi Stalin also participated in the one-day hunger strike in Chennai organized by the DMK student wing and the medical wing.

The state-wide demonstration is against state Governor RN Ravi over his refusal to ban the NEET examination in the state and the Central government.

Meanwhile, Udhayanidhi Stalin and other DMK leaders ended the hunger strike in Chennai on Sunday evening.

Speaking to reporters, Udhayanidhi Stalin said "It's not suicide it is a murder, Central Government is responsible for this and AIADMK is joining hands with them. I did not participate in this protest as a minister or MLA. I have participated here as the brother of the student who died while preparing for NEET..."

He lashed out at Governor RN Ravi over his refusal to ban the NEET examination in the state, "Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi has got so much arrogance. Who are u Governor? What authority u have. He is not RN Ravi, he is RSS Ravi".

Demanding the resignation of the governor, he said, "You should stand in the election. If you won the election, I will obey you whatever you say even will support the NEET too".

TN Minister Health Minister M Subramanian, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department Minister Sekar Babu, MP Dayanidhi Maran and MP Kanimozli NVN Somu along with various DMK cadres participated in the hunger strike.

However, in Madurai, the DMK protest has been postponed to August 23 due to the AIADMK conference scheduled today.

Before the hunger strike, DMK party leaders observed a minute's silence for NEET aspirants who died by suicide in Tamil Nadu.

A man in Tamil Nadu's Chennai ended his life by hanging after his 19-year-old son died by suicide on August 13, after failing to clear the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exam twice, police said.

According to officials, the deceased, S Jegadeeswaran (19) was an aspirant and hanged himself a day earlier after having flunked the NEET examination twice.

Earlier, DMK leader TKS Elangovan on Saturday criticised Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi for his statement over the state's NEET bill and said that he has disrespected the Assembly resolution.

Elangovan was responding to Ravi's statement made on Saturday that he would never give clearance to the Tamil Nadu Assembly adopted bill against the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET).

"The Governor is an appointed person who doesn't have popular support. He disrespected the Assembly resolution. What is the attitude he is showing? He cannot say that. His duty is to sign or return the paper with a reason. He cannot say no to any Bill passed by the legislature," Elangovan told ANI."We have to fight it out, so we are conducting agitation," he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)