{"id":2590,"date":"2026-07-23T09:34:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T09:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/?p=2590"},"modified":"2026-07-23T09:34:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T09:34:28","slug":"tamil-nadu-ministers-attend-jananayagan-fdfs-as-anti-neet-protests-intensify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/?p=2590","title":{"rendered":"Tamil Nadu Ministers Attend Jananayagan FDFS as Anti-NEET Protests Intensify"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first-day, first-show release of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay\u2019s much-awaited film <em>Jananayagan<\/em> turned into a major political and cultural event across Tamil Nadu on July 23, 2026, as several members of the ruling establishment joined fans and party workers at theatres even while anti-NEET protests continued across the state. Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar, senior minister K.A. Sengottaiyan and multiple Cabinet members were among those who attended screenings, while Vijay had watched the film\u2019s premiere the previous evening with Chief Secretary Sai Kumar and other senior bureaucrats. Sengottaiyan reportedly led a procession to a theatre in Erode, while Water Resources Minister and Leader of the House N. Anand watched the movie in Chennai with Health Minister K.G. Arunraj, who also appears in the film. Videos showing Natural Resources Minister T.K. Prabhu placing <em>Jananayagan<\/em> stickers on houses and autorickshaws also circulated online, while Labour Welfare Minister J. Mohamed Farvas was seen becoming emotional during a screening in Pudukkottai. The celebrations attracted criticism because they coincided with demonstrations demanding action over the alleged NEET paper leak, the abolition of the national medical entrance examination and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Protest activity had spread across Chennai, Madurai and Tiruchirappalli, with students, young professionals and political organisations expressing solidarity with demonstrators in Delhi, while more than 100 protesters were reportedly detained in Madurai and Tiruchirappalli. The state government was also facing opposition pressure over Karnataka\u2019s Mekedatu project, the availability of Cauvery water and the problems faced by delta farmers. Responding to criticism, Arunraj said the government was dealing with several matters that could not all be solved in one day and argued that attending the film\u2019s opening show was an emotional occasion unrelated to the continuing protests. Vijay had separately expressed support for demonstrators, criticised the detention of opposition leaders and reiterated his party\u2019s demand for the complete abolition of NEET. The controversy nevertheless revived debate over whether ministers should publicly prioritise a film celebration associated with the Chief Minister while major education, water and agricultural concerns remained active across Tamil Nadu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first-day, first-show release of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay\u2019s much-awaited film Jananayagan turned into a major political and cultural event across Tamil Nadu on July 23, 2026, as several members of the ruling establishment joined fans and party workers at theatres even while anti-NEET protests continued across the state. Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker J.C.D. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2591,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2590\/revisions\/2591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}