Cong to Hold Pan-India Protest Over Holding NEET & JEE Amid COVID

The exams are scheduled to begin from 1 September.

Image used for representation.

(Photo: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

The Congress announced that it will stage nationwide protests on Friday, 28 August, protesting the central government’s decision to go ahead with the NEET-JEE examinations amid the COVID-19.

Reiterating its strong opposition to the same, Congress MP and AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal termed the Centre as "ever insensitive and mindless."

"Lakhs of students and parents from across the country are rightfully agitating and demanding to postpone the JEE-NEET, scheduled to be held in the middle of the ever burgeoning COVID-19 crisis. However, an ever insensitive and mindless central government is moving ahead with the decision to hold these exams despite the obvious risk it holds," he said in a statement.

“The decision to hold these exams during the COVID crisis has created a huge concern among the students and parents owing to the fear of COVID-19 infection if forced to sit physically for an offline examination at designated centres,” he added.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday held a virtual meeting with opposition chief ministers to discuss this issue. The CMs reiterated that this move of the central government has to be opposed "collectively".

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has also raised the demand to postpone the JEE-NEET taking the concerns of the students into account. The NSUI is also planning an indefinite hunger strike against this "unilateral move" by the Centre.

Calling it a "mindless and dictatorial move of the central government", the state units of the Congress has decided to also take its protests online with an organised online campaign, 'Speak Up For Student Safety' where videos or posts against this decision will be posted on the party's different social media handles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube among others.

(This copy has been edited for length.)