In Chennai alone, protests were staged at over a dozen places, bringing the city traffic to a halt. Agitators also burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Impromptu road blockades and protests erupted across Tamil Nadu on Saturday, following a 17-year-old Dalit student committing suicide after failing to secure seat in a medical college. The deceased, S Anitha, had been fighting against the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) based admission to medical colleges.
Opposition parties, including DMK, Left parties, and other state parties squarely blamed the AIADMK-led government in the state and the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for Anitha's death. In the Ariyalur district, DMK-led Opposition parties observed a day-long bandh to condemn the state and the Centre for imposing NEET.
Spontaneous protests were held at several places, with students and political parties' members raising slogans against the government. They accused the state and the Centre of making false promises to aspirants, only to disappoint tens of thousands of state board students.
In Chennai alone, protests were staged at over a dozen places, bringing the city traffic to a halt. Agitators also burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
At Palayamkottai in the Tirunelveli district, a "wailing protest" was held by women members of pro-Tamil Naam Tamizhar Katchi.
Protests were also held in Coimbatore, Salem, and Rameswaram, where students and youth outfits demanded justice for the girl and sought immediate withdrawal of NEET.
Pro-Tamil groups attempted to besiege the BJP's state headquarters at T Nagar while the Students Federation of India (SFI) members attempted to picket the residence of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, who has been battling internal party strife since he took office in February this year.
Apprehending the earlier Jallikattu-type protests, police personnel were deployed in large numbers on the Marina Promenade. Meanwhile, all day long, relatives, friends, students, cadres, and leaders of various political parties paid last respects to Anitha. Political leaders, including DMK working president MK Stalin, ousted AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran, and CPI State Secretary R Mutharasan were among those who paid homage. BJP's Minister of State Pon Radhakrishnan condoled Anitha's death and said he will visit the family later. Anitha had scored 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in Class XII exams but did not score well in the CBSE syllabus-based NEET. She ended her life by hanging herself at her home at Kuzhumur in Ariyalur, a backward district in Tamil Nadu, on Friday afternoon. She had lost her mother to an illness at a very young age and wanted to become a doctor to serve the poor. Anitha's dream was so well known in the neighbourhood that locals used to call her Dr Anitha. Her father, Shanmugam, a daily wage labourer, said despite adverse circumstances, Anitha managed to focus on her studies. "What was her fault? Who will answer for her death now?" he asked.
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