On Wednesday, the Congress leveled accusations against the BJP, alleging repeated attempts to impose its agenda on the people of Tamil Nadu and flagged issues such as "devastating impacts" of NEET in the state and insufficient devolution of taxes from the Centre.
In a social media post on X platform, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi prior to his rally in Coimbatore. Ramesh posed challenging questions to the Prime Minister regarding significant issues impacting the state.
"Today, PM Modi will be in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. In a state which has a long history of advocating for cooperative federalism, the BJP has repeatedly tried to impose its will on the people," Ramesh said.
The NEET exam was introduced by the BJP government in 2017, and it faced widespread public backlash due to fears that it would unfairly disadvantage students from poor and marginalised communities. "Very soon, these fears were confirmed. According to 2019 data, only 2% of students who qualified for the exam did so without enrolling in private coaching. Since coaching centres charge between 2.5 Lakh to 5 Lakh per student, it is nearly impossible for marginalised students to qualify for the exam, he said.
In 2008, when PM Modi was still Chief Minister of Gujarat, he had kicked up a storm with his remarks on fiscal injustice and insufficient devolution of taxes from the centre. However, now that the BJP is in power, the shoe is on the other foot.