SFI activists take out march to Kerala Raj Bhavan in protest against NEET irregularities

Thiruvananthapuram: The ruling CPI(M)'s student outfit SFI on Thursday carried out a march to the Kerala Raj Bhavan here in protest against the irregularities in the NEET and demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The protest saw the police using water cannons to disperse the Students Federation of India (SFI) activists, who became violent by pulling down the barricades set up by the police and were also seen smashing a riot-shield used by the force.

After breaching the barricades, the SFI activists, led by its state secretary P M Arsho, shouted slogans against the central government in connection with the irregularities in the medical entrance exam and sat down on the road in front of the police personnel who were present in large numbers to prevent the protestors from moving forward.

As the protestors ignored repeated demands of the police to disperse, police arrested and removed many of them by force.

Police were seen forcibly carrying away many of the protestors, including women, into the police vehicles, according to visuals shown on TV channels.

On Tuesday, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala, took out a march to the office of the Accountant General (AG) here in protest against the irregularities in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

Prior to that, the student and youth wings of the Congress too held protests in the state against the irregularities in NEET.

Last week, the Kerala Assembly unanimously passed a resolution condemning the irregularities in the NEET and NET entrance exams conducted by the NTA.

The Assembly passed a resolution demanding that the Centre take urgent steps to address the grievances of affected candidates and carry out a comprehensive inquiry into the irregularities in the conduct of the entrance exams.

Both the ruling LDF and the opposition Congress-led UDF were also in agreement that the recently reported irregularities in the NEET-UG and UGC-NET exams call into question the National Testing Agency's (NTA) credibility and its competence to conduct such entrance tests.