Govt should withdraw order insisting 60 per cent marks: Jaya

Chennai, Feb 8 (UNI) AIADMK General Secretary and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today urged the Centre to withdraw its order, insisting 60 per cent marks for SC/ST students in plus two examinations for availing scholarships for higher studies and condemned the DMK Government for not firmly taking up the issue with the Centre.

In a statement here, Ms Jayalalithaa said the Centre should immediately withdraw the order as it would spell doom for the SC/ST students and deprive them of higher studies.

Stating that the order posed serious hurdles to the social development of the oppresssed students, the AIADMK leader said the DMK Government, which was in a position to prevail upon the Centre to withdraw the order, as usual remained unperturbed.

Referring to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's remarks that the State Government had written to the Centre on the issue, Ms Jayalalithaa flayed the DMK Government for writing to the Centre, when it should have condemned it for passing the order. ''This amounted to ridiculing the sentiments of the SC/ST students,'' she said.

If the Centre's order was allowed to be implemented, it would pave way for the revival of the Adi Dravidars slavery system in the country and both the Centre and State Governments should realise the danger, she warned.

''The Chief Minister will offer a red carpet welcome to the Centre's order, if he wasted time by writing letters to the Centre, instead of taking steps to retrieve the rights of the SC/ST students,'' she said.

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