Bharat Jodo Yatra: Rahul Gandhi meets family of NEET suicide victim

Kanyakumari: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has embarked on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, on Thursday met the family of S Anitha, who had allegedly died by suicide five years ago after failing to crack NEET.

Congress MP from Karur in Tamil Nadu, S Jothimani tweeted a picture of Anitha's family meeting Gandhi. She accompanied Gandhi in his TN leg of the 3,500 km Kanyakumari to Kashmir footmarch, launched on Wednesday from here.

"Leader Rahul Gandhi met the family of Anitha, who committed suicide for not able to clear NEET," Jothimani said in the tweet.

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In an apparent reference to his sister's death, Anitha's brother S Manirathinam said his family was "personally affected" due to the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET).

"Rahul Gandhi has embarked on the footmarch to protect India and the Constitution. This march is for all the affected persons. We were affected personally due to NEET and wanted exemption," he told a Tamil news TV channel.

The state has been affected due to NEET and the Tamil Nadu Assembly's bills seeking exemption for the qualifying test "have not been accepted," apparently by the Centre, he said.

Gandhi gave the family a "patient hearing" and he was "happy to join" the Congress leader, Manirathinam added.

NEET is a sensitive issue in Tamil Nadu and is being opposed by all political parties barring the BJP.

Anitha's suicide in 2017 sparked off a series of similar deaths by medical aspirants in the state, either over apprehensions pertaining to NEET or over being unable to crack it.