Guwahati, Aug. 5: The All India Chakma Students' Union will stage a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi tomorrow against alleged denial of admission in medical colleges to four Chakma students from Mizoram despite clearing their entrance.

The union's president, Dilip Kanti Chakma, today said the four students stood 4th, 9th, 17th and 23rd in Mizoram in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), 2017, and were allotted MBBS seats during counselling on July 20. But, he alleged, their selections were cancelled within hours due to pressure from the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (Mizo Students' Association) which wanted the medical seats to be allotted to Mizo students only.

The four students, Darshan Chakma, Nibir Chakma, Mini Chakma and Nibhir Tongchangya, were allotted seats in Gauhati Medical College, Dr Sampurnanand Medical College, Jodhpur, Burdwan Medical College, West Bengal, and Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Medical College, Raipur, respectively.

"The Chakmas are a Scheduled Tribe# just like the Mizos under the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order of 1950. There is no ground whatsoever for discrimination among the STs. The demand of the Mizo NGOs to reserve all MBBS seats for the Mizos, denying any medical seat to the NEET-qualified Chakmas, is unethical. The action of the Mizoram government to discriminate against the Chakma students on the basis of ethnicity is a direct assault on the Constitution," Chakma said in a statement.

"We will stage a peaceful sit-in against the racial discrimination and seek the Centre's intervention," he added.

The issue was raised by Rajya Sabha MP Basawaraj Patil during the ongoing Parliament session on July 31.

"NEET 2017 was conducted by the CBSE on May 7, which was separately prepared by the CBSE for Mizoram students under Mizoram state quota seats. These seats are allotted by health and family welfare ministry under the central quota pool as Mizoram has no medical college," Chakma said.

All efforts to contact Mizoram health department officials proved futile.