ln an unambiguous decision taken shortly after he took office, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu C. Joseph Vijay has drawn attention to the controversial National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). Pointing out how the NEET-UG 2026 was abruptly canceled due to a massive paper leak, CM Vijay has appealed to the Center to end the NEET test and revert to a merit-based admissions process for medical courses using Class 12 board results alone. This is no empty gesture but part of the decades-long struggle by Tamil Nadu against a flawed, elitist selection process. News18
This is nothing but perfect timing for this event. The NEET-UG 2026 exams conducted on May 3 were scrapped by the National Testing Agency (NTA) following leak charges. It is said that a “guess paper” was circulated before the exam which answered 120-150 questions correctly from the actual paper. This caused the CBI to conduct an investigation into the issue, arrests in several states, and extreme suffering to over 22 lakh applicants who had spent years and lakhs of rupees on coaching. Vijay says that this whole situation is proof of the “structural problems” with the national examinations system. India Today
He believes that time after time, it fails lakhs of deserving candidates. Tamil Nadu has been warning against NEET for decades now. Both successive DMK and AIADMK governments have protested NEET since its implementation in 2017 because it is alleged to unfairly target students hailing from villages, studying in government schools, studying in the Tamil language medium, and belonging to financially weaker communities. In the absence of NEET, doctors in Tamil Nadu had been selected based on higher secondary results and they were known to come back to provide service to their villages.
Human Cost: Student Suicides and Lost Dreams
The reasons for opposition can be found in truly heart-wrenching events. At least 18-26 student suicides since 2017 in Tamil Nadu have occurred due to NEET- related pressure. Several of these occurred in clusters during examinations. The most striking event occurred in 2017, when a talented student named Anitha from a poor family scored an amazing 1176/1200 in her final exams but failed in NEET.
Her suicide led to protests throughout the country and became the slogan against NEET According to data presented by the government of Tamil Nadu to the Madras High Court in 2019, only 48 students out of the total of 3,081 admitted into government medical colleges did not require coaching for their admissions. A whopping 66% of them were repeaters, having attempted NEET several times already. Tuition fees of *2.5 lakh to €5 lakh yearly made it too expensive for students from poor families to attempt admission to these prestigious institutions. BBC
Vijay Joins Bipartisan Voices
CM Vijay’s statement comes from a rare bipartisan effort in Tamil Nadu politics. In 2021, the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a bill for a waiver of NEET, yet it was delayed and met obstacles. The DMK administration, headed by MK Stalin, was vociferously pushing the exemption and questioned NEET’s constitutionality at the Supreme Court. With TVK heading the government, new zeal comes into the effort from a leader who appeals to all sides!
CM Vijay’s official statement was concise: “The Government of Tamil Nadu reaffirms the demand of the State to abolish NEET and allow the States to fill all seats reserved for State quota in MBBS, BDS and AYUSH courses based on their Class 12 scores.” Vijay highlighted that the criteria is biased against rural and Tamil medium students and urged for state-level control in admissions to medical courses.
Merit or Equity? The National Question
Supporters of NEET claim that NEET provides an equitable, standardized criterion of merit at the national level and stops charging capitation fees in private institutions. However, Tamil Nadu is an exception to this claim since the region has excelled in its secondary education system and supplied competent doctors according to their local requirements. However, since NEET was imposed, the number of students from government schools in medical institutions has considerably fallen before introducing the 7.5% quota.
With repeated cases of leaking in India, such as in 2024 and recently in 2026, many have questioned the credibility of NTA. In the 2026 controversy, there were insiders and middlemen who reportedly offered the leaks to candidates for a price as high as ₹50 lakh. Times of India
What lies ahead?
The timing of CM Vijay’s intervention is crucial. In the light of the “change” agenda of the new TVK government, it could be considered an important victory for them – or, depending on their response, perhaps another issue in which a conflict between the center and the state emerges. The petition brings up several issues surrounding federalism in education, social justice, and exam conduct. While millions of applicants wait for a re-conduct of the NEET test, and the investigation by the CBI takes place, the message from the state is clear: Tamil Nadu will continue to be a vocal stakeholder on the issue.
