GU NEET-PG merit list: Top 3 rankers are Patidars who don’t support reservation

AHMEDABAD: Even as the Patidar reservation agitation has taken the state by storm and pitted the traditional vote-bank of the BJP against the state government, three bright medical students from the community feel that they don’t need reservation in education. Talking to Mirror, the three NEET-PG toppers said reservation, if at all a need is felt for it, should be given on the basis of one’s financial status and not caste.
Kautilya Patel, 23, topped the merit list of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test – Postgraduate (NEETPG) out of 1,570 students who qualified for the exam from Gujarat, while securing seventh rank in the All India Ranking (AIR).Vaibhav Karoliya, 24, secured second rank in Gujarat with AIR of 15 and Meet Patel, 23, was third in the state merit list with AIR of 46. The results of the exam, conducted between December 5 and 13, were declared by the Gujarat University (GU) on Tuesday. The All India merit list was declared on January 13 in which 1.2 lakh candidates had appeared across 86 test centres in 41cities of India. All the three toppers belong to the BJ Medical College of Ahmedabad. A total of 2,531 MBBS candidates had applied for 490 PG seats in five medical colleges of GU.
‘There’s no need for reservation’
Gujarat topper Kautilya Patel, a resident of Ahmedabad and currently pursuing his internship, secured third rank in the examination conducted by the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Born to gynaecologist parents Dr Rajendra and Dr Kamini Patel, Kautilya says, “I don’t want to be judged but it is my personal opinion that it is unreasonable to generalise the condition of an entire community as forward or backward. All communities have economic and social disparities among its members. Therefore, reservations are not needed at all. It is high time that the country unites and moves ahead together irrespective of caste hierarchy.” State’s second ranker Vaibhav Karoliya, a resident of Morbi, finished his internship last year. His father Jasmatbhai is a primary school teacher and mother Kanchanben is a housewife. He told Mirror, “Reservations should not exist at all. If the government really needs to help students they should set up scholarships on basis of merit. This would ensure the needy are not left out simply for want of money.” Vaibhav, whose elder brother is also a doctor, said there is extreme competition to secure a seat for PG courses as this year 3 candidates would be fighting for a single seat. Third ranker Meet Patel, a resident of Anand, said his father Vishnubhai, a Professor of Pharmacology, and mother Harshaben, principal of a medical college, are his greatest inspiration. Commenting on reservation, he said: “All institutions should function like the Indian Army. No reservation for anybody at all. Absolute uniformity and a level playing field irrespective of caste, creed and religion can be the only key to real progress of our nation.”
Hardik Patel reacts
Reacting to the comments made by NEET toppers on the issue of reservation, Patidar agitation spearhead Hardik Patel said: “It is true that there are many such toppers in our community who achieve their goals on the basis of merit. But there are a lot more who require reservation because of their financial and social conditions. Reservations are definitely required for both education and government employment and the current system of reservation needs to be examined so that real development can take place.” At the time of launching his stir, the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti convenor had famously said a Patidar student with 90 per cent marks does not get admission in an MBBS course, while reserved category students get it with even 45 per cent marks.
How to crack NEET-PG
Kautilya, whose younger brother currently studies at IIT Delhi, said he was interested in Biology from an early age and his parents motivated him to pursue his dream. He used to study for 9- 10 hours every day for the exam for a period of 11 months. “It’s not the hours spent studying but the quality of it that matters the most in the end,” he said. He aspires to pursue Neurosurgery in either AIIMS or National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS). Vaibhav said it was the support of his seniors and friends that helped him overcome the stress of taking the exams. He plans to pursue MD in Medicine at the Maulana Azad Medical College in Delhi. While Meet, who is the first to become a doctor in his family, plans to pursue PG in orthopaedics at the King Edward Memorial (KEM) Medical College in Mumbai.