BJP repeatedly tried to impose its will on people of Tamil Nadu: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP of repeatedly trying to impose its will 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 post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his rally in Coimbatore and posed questions to him on key issues affecting 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.

He said, "The Modi Sarkar's track record in TN begs the question - does PM Modi want to represent the people, or does he want to rule over them?"

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.

Sure enough, the Congress leader said, data shows that the number of Tamil-medium government school students securing seats in medical courses reduced drastically after NEET was introduced -- from 600 in 2016 (before NEET) to just 5 in 2017, 7 in 2018 and 0 in 2019.

"To address this injustice, the TN Assembly has passed two NEET bills since 2017 that exempt students from taking the exam, but neither bill was given assent by the President. The most tragic element of this narrative is that Tamil Nadu has experienced several student suicides prior to the exam every year since its inception," Ramesh said.

All of Tamil Nadu has borne witness to the devastating impacts of NEET, he said and asked why the prime minister has not even acknowledged the damage that his policies have caused.

"Last week, the state of Tamil Nadu was compelled to move the Supreme Court as the Union government has been withholding much-needed disaster relief funds. Tamil Nadu has been dealing with the aftermath of Cyclone Michuang, which rocked the state in December 2023, causing unprecedented flooding and significant damage," he said.

The state government has already spent Rs 3,406 crore from the State Disaster Relief Fund and other state funds but it has not been enough to cover the extensive damage caused by the cyclone, Ramesh said.

In such situations, states can seek additional aid from the National Disaster Relief Fund, which was established for the express purpose of assisting when calamities are "beyond the coping capacity of the state government", he said.

The Tamil Nadu government had applied to this fund as early as December 19 last year and then again on January 10 for the release of Rs 18,214 crore of aid, he said.

"Yet, more than 4 months later, the Centre has not taken a final decision. Needless to say, this delay in the release of funds has severe implications for the people of Tamil Nadu," Ramesh said.

What "vendetta" does the PM have against the Tamil people to be so indifferent to their needs, he asked.

"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," he alleged.

In January, the Tamil Nadu finance minister pointed out that the state received only 29 paise for every rupee it gave to the Centre, he said.

Ramesh said that even though Tamil Nadu accounts for 6.124 per cent of India's population, its share of central taxes has decreased from 5.305 per cent under the 12th Finance Commission to 4.079 per cent under the 15th Finance Commission.

"This reduction in Tamil Nadu's share comes amidst the Modi Sarkar's introduction of a cess raj, evolved specifically to avoid sharing revenues with states," he said.

"Is the PM's change of heart on this issue entirely attributable to his desire for centralising power?" Ramesh said and asked Modi to break his silence on these issues.