Overview
- Chennai police briefly took rapper-activist Arivu into preventive custody on Tuesday after he staged an unauthorised protest outside the Tamil Nadu Secretariat calling for the abolition of NEET and solidarity with students protesting alleged exam irregularities.
- Police said the protesters gathered in a high-security, prohibited zone and were moved to maintain public order; Arivu and three others were released hours later after being escorted into the Secretariat complex.
- Several outlets initially reported that Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay met Arivu in his chamber, but Arivu issued a public clarification saying he did not meet the chief minister and that he met State Minister Aadhav Arjuna instead.
- Opposition leaders and cultural allies reacted strongly to the detention, with Udhayanidhi Stalin and DMK figures condemning the police action and filmmakers and activists framing the episode as part of a wider campaign against NEET and alleged exam misconduct.
- The incident ties into nationwide protests over NEET paper leaks and policing of demonstrators and matters because Arivu’s prominence in Dalit and youth culture gives the protest political weight that could increase pressure on the state and central governments to address exam grievances.