NEET-JEE row: BJP slams Cong-led Oppn's move to protest, calls it a 'political drama'

Telangana BJP leader N V Subhash on Thursday hit out at the Congress-led Opposition parties' move to hold nationwide protests against the Centre's decision to conduct NEET and JEE exams asserting it to be "politically motivated". He further added that it would dampen the spirit of lakhs of students who prepared for the exams.

This comes as the opposition has been expressing dissentment over the exams and have been demanding postponement. Subhash said that the Opposition party is playing with the students of the country and applying a "wrong medicine" for its wounds.

"The Opposition parties stuck to their guns without really understanding the concerns of the aspirants of medical and engineering seats. The demand of interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Chief Ministers of its allied parties is nothing but a political drama to grab the attention of the public," Subhash told ANI.

The BJP leader further said that the Congress leadership was still ignoring the people's real concerns and implementing its political agenda.

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Education Minister speaks on JEE & NEET

The Union Education Minister on Wednesday stated that the exam dates had been finalised after two deferments keeping in mind the order of the Supreme Court and the current situation of the pandemic. The Education Minister revealed that about 85% of the students appearing for the exams had already downloaded their admit cards and were ready to sit for their tests after much preparation.

While the Centre is facing criticism from the Opposition for conducting JEE Mains and NEET in view of the rising COVID-19 cases, over 100 academicians from various universities in India and abroad have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that delaying the medical and engineering entrance exams any further will mean compromising the future of students.

Over 14 lakh admit cards for the medical and engineering entrance exams of NEET and JEE were downloaded after the National Testing Agency (NTA) released them on Wednesday, even as the issue was discussed extensively during a meeting of Chief Ministers of non-BJP ruled states who decided to jointly move the Supreme Court to seek deferment of these exams.

While the NEET is planned on September 13, engineering entrance exam JEE Main is scheduled from September 1-6. Around 9.53 lakh candidates have registered for JEE-Mains and 15.97 lakh students have registered for NEET. These exams have already been deferred twice in the wake of the novel Coronavirus pandemic.

READ: Odisha CM Patnaik dials PM Modi; requests postponement of NEET, JEE exams amid pandemic

READ: In NEET-JEE row, over 100 academics write to PM Modi backing Centre conducting key exams