Chennai, April 9 ,2025
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has convened a meeting of legislature party leaders today (April 9) at the State Secretariat in Chennai to deliberate on the next steps in the ongoing demand for exemption from the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for students in the state.
The meeting follows the announcement that the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, has withheld assent to the Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill.
The Bill, passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, sought to exempt students from the state from NEET-based admissions for undergraduate medical courses in government institutions.
The President’s decision, based on the recommendations of the Union Government, was announced by Chief Minister Stalin in the Assembly on April 4.
Stalin expressed strong disappointment with the Union Government’s stance, accusing it of disregarding the state’s well-documented justifications for the exemption.
He said the Centre had ignored detailed explanations submitted by the Tamil Nadu Government to multiple Union ministries including Health, AYUSH, Home Affairs, and Higher Education.
Calling the Centre’s action a “black chapter in the history of cooperative federalism,” Stalin said it undermines the dignity of the state legislature and the democratic will of the people of Tamil Nadu.
He added that the state would consult legal experts to determine the future course of action.
The Chief Minister recounted the legislative history of the Bill, noting that it was first passed unanimously in the Assembly on September 13, 2021, based on the recommendations of a high-level committee led by retired High Court judge Justice A.K. Rajan. The committee had studied the impact of NEET on students from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
However, the Bill was returned by the Governor for reconsideration. In response, an all-party meeting was convened on February 5, 2022, and the Bill was re-adopted in the Assembly on February 8, 2022. It was subsequently sent to the Union Government for presidential assent.
Meanwhile, the opposition has criticised the meeting. Leader of Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) dismissed the all-party meeting as a “drama,” accusing the DMK government of failing to ensure the cancellation of NEET. He announced that his party, the AIADMK, would boycott the meeting.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has four MLAs in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, has also stated that it will not attend the meeting.
As the NEET issue continues to evoke strong political and public reactions across Tamil Nadu, today’s meeting is expected to shape the next phase of the state’s fight for exemption, with legal recourse likely on the table.
