Protect interests of Maharashtra students in admissions through NEET, says Raj Thackeray

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray on Wednesday demanded that the government must protect the interests of students from Maharashtra while admitting students on a national basis through the national eligibility-cum-entrance test (NEET) to medical and dental colleges in the country.

Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, he said the MNS would be forced to agitate if students from outside Maharashtra were given priority in admissions.

He said that the interests of students from Maharashtra were not being protected by the state government during medical admissions through the NEET ranking system.

“All the states have enough laws to ensure admission for locals, but the Maharashtra government is not framing the laws in a way that the local students will get more opportunity in various courses,” Thackeray said.

He warned that his party will launch an agitation “in our own style” if it is found that medical colleges are giving priority to students from other states, instead of those from Maharashtra.

Thackeray stressed that the Supreme Court had held that education is a state subject and the government needs to frame rules in a way that local students are given more opportunity.

The MNS leader claimed it was only Maharashtra which was confused on the issue of admissions through NEET.

“Every year parents come to MNS and raise various issues about the NEET examination. Why is the state government not able to sort out all this confusion?” he asked. Thackeray also criticised the state government over the milk agitation issue and accused the Narendra Modi government of intentionally promoting the Gujarat-based Amul milk in Maharashtra.

“The state government has not called the protestors for a discussion even though it was fully aware of the agitation over poor prices for dairy farmers,” he said. The agitation has affected farmers as well as consumers, he noted.