Who killed Dr Anitha?

Chennai: “I am not obsessed with doing MBBS for my own sake. I want to be a doctor so I can serve the poor people in my area for free. I am confident I will do it,” Anitha told her lawyer when he last met her at the Supreme Court, where she was fighting against the Neet.

“Anitha pursued her medical dream amidst very challenging circumstances in her poor Dalit family. She hoped to get admission in one of the top medical colleges as she got high cut-off marks in plus 2 exams,” says her lawyer P.B. Suresh Babu, recalling she scored 196.75 for medical cut-off and 199.75 for engineering cut-off, besides getting 1,176 marks out of 1,200 in plus 2 exam.

“I could not meet Anitha after the case. She was defeated due to the conspiracy of the rulers, due to their insensitivities. But then, students should be ready to stand up and fight for their rights and not kill themselves”, said Babu. 

“Anitha did not kill herself. Our politicians, administrators and the system snuffed out her life”, fumed educationist S. S. Rajagopalan. The octogenarian, who worked tirelessly in the state education sector for several decades, said he is “deeply moved and saddened by this tragedy”.

“The Supreme Court should revise its opinion about equality. A village girl belonging to SC community scores such a high marks and how can she be compared to a Delhi student who goes for coaching classes paying hefty fees? Supreme Court says Neet brings equality. But, Neet brings only inequality, not equality,” asserted educationist Rajagopalan, adding that Anitha’s teachers should have counseled her to accept other options  as she had got seats in both the Anna University (engineering) and veterinary science.

The prolonged confusion over Neet had hugely stressed the students and parents. Their hope surged for a brief time from the statement by Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the Centre would support if Tamil Nadu passes an ordinance seeking exemption from Neet for one year. Only for a brief time as the Centre made a U-turn in the Supreme Court, while responding to the petition from the Neet-qualified students who had rushed to the court seeking the start of counselling for medical seat. When the Centre told SC that they would not give TN exemption from Neet, the court ordered medical admissions based on the Neet results. 

Hundreds of TN students, who had fared well in their plus-two exams and hoped to get into medical colleges minus the Neet, felt shattered by the SC order, while many opposition political leaders accused the Centre and the TN government of betraying the state’s students after leading them down the garden path.