Chennai: Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder and actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Thursday criticised the BJP-led Centre over the NEET issue and the ongoing student protests, saying the country had failed when children were met with barricades and batons instead of answers.

Without directly naming the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), Haasan, a Rajya Sabha member, alleged that the system had become one where "anxiety replaces curiosity" and "criminality replaces merit".

In a post on X, Haasan said, "We should have listened when one child cried. Instead, we waited until far too many of our children died. A system where coaching replaces learning, anxiety replaces curiosity, and criminality replaces merit is rotten."

"A nation has failed when its children are met with barricades and batons instead of answers," he said, while urging climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on an indefinite fast supporting the students' demands, to end his protest.

Addressing students, Haasan said, "You are the best of us. You have done your duty. It is now time for the country to do its duty by you."

He added that the country would need Wangchuk's "conscience for the journey ahead" and hoped that students' dreams would remain bigger than the failures of the system.