DMK's Dayanidhi Maran welcomes SC decision on NEET UG results, says it's "national issue"

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], June 13 : Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Dayanidhi Maran on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court ruling in the NEET UG 2024 which cancelled the score-cards of 1,563 candidates who got grace marks and gave them a chance to reappear for the exam.
He also said that NEET has become a "national issue", adding that the DMK government led by Chief Minister MK Stalin has long been opposing the exam.
"Today's order asking 1563 students to re-do exam is a welcome part. In India, our leader M K Stalin was the first person who spoke about NEET and was against it. That time they all made jokes about us. They all said NEET is a Tamil Nadu issue and not a national one. Our young leader Udhyanidhi also raised the issue. Not only in Tamil Nadu suicides are happening even in Rajasthan's Kota too. Do you know what the BJP government did to solve this problem? They are putting springs in ceiling fans to stop student suicides," Maran told reporters.
"But what is the real issue? It is the unnecessary pressure put on students. Chaos is happening in NEET. Grace marks were given as per their wish," he added.
The DMK leader further alleged that the students in North India were aided by their parents in copying in the exams and they were also getting higher marks.
"Here (in Southern states) students were asked to remove their earrings saying that NEET is a very strict exam. But in North India, students were helped by parents themselves to copy in exams. Even students from there are getting higher marks...But today NEET has become a national issue. In Tamil Nadu people who didn't listen to us, are now listening to us. The reason for this is our leader MK Stalin and Youth leader Udhyanidhi Stalin," Maran further said.
Notably, the DMK has been a strong opposer of the NEET exams alleging that it gives an 'unfair advantage' to the students of North India.
The state assembly in 2022, passed a resolution exempting the state from the NEET examination.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Thursday told the Supreme Court that score-cards of 1563 candidates who got "grace marks" in the 2024 National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) exam will be canceled and the candidates will have a chance to reappear for the exam.
NTA told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that a committee has been constituted to review the results of over 1,563 candidates who were awarded "grace marks" to compensate for the loss of time suffered while appearing for NEET-UG.
"The Committee has decided to cancel the score-cards of 1563 NEET-UG 2024 candidates who were given grace marks and these students will be given the option to take a re-test," NTA said.
"Exam will be conducted on June 23 and result will be declared before June 30," it added.
The Supreme Court will hear the petitions on July 8.