Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president C. Joseph Vijay on Wednesday (July 22, 2026) said his party remains firm in its uncompromising stand that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) should be abolished. In a post on X, Mr. Vijay condemned the Union government for detaining Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, along with other leaders, who staged an anti-government protest against the spate of paper leaks and sought education reforms in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence in New Delhi on Tuesday (July 21).
Mr. Vijay termed the detention of the leaders “anti-democratic.” He said his party extends full support to the protest being organised by the Opposition parties on the Parliament premises on Wednesday. He said the NEET examination severely affects students and their families and that his party would not make false promises on the issue merely for electoral gains. “If NEET has to be abolished, the only permanent solution is to move education back to the State List from the Concurrent List.
If there are constitutional or legal hurdles in doing so, then, as an interim measure, a Special Concurrent List should be created and States should be vested with the necessary powers through it. This would enable State governments to exercise full control over education, including medical education,” he said. The Union government must respect the sentiments of the people and the aspirations of students and abolish NEET, he added.
