Debate over the Tamil Nadu anti-NEET bill continued on Sunday with Health Minister Ma Subramanian insisting it had nothing to do with Governor RN Ravi. The remarks came in the wake of the latter’s assertion that he would “never, ever” clear the bill.
“Left with no other option (this time), the Governor had sent the bill to the President. His job is over with that. He has got nothing to do with NEET (bill). There is no need for his consent as well,” the minister said in a statement.
The contentious Bill calls for Tamil Nadu to be exempted from the ambit of the central exam. The State Assembly had adopted a fresh Bill on the matter last year after the Governor returned the initial bill. Tamil Nadu has been staunchly opposed to NEET, with both the previous AIADMK government and the incumbent ruling DMK adopting Assembly bills seeking exemption for the state from its ambit.
Subramanian claimed that Ravi’s remarks against the anti-NEET bill amounted to “fishing in troubled waters” and added that a governor ‘should ideally support the welfare initiatives of the state government’. The DMK regime’s stand against the NEET, he added, was reflective of the public sentiment.
Ravi had waded headfirst into the NEET debate earlier on Saturday, telling people during an interaction at the Raj Bhavan that he’d be the “last man to give clearance”.
“I do not want my children to feel intellectually disabled. I want our children to compete and be the best. They have proved it,” he explained.
The Governor however noted that the decision was now up to President Droupadi Murmu.
“Anyway, it has gone to the President because it is a subject of Concurrent List, it is a subject which only the President is competent to give clearance to,” he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Updated: 13 Aug 2023, 09:36 PM IST