West Bengal CM voices in favour of keeping NEET and JEE postponed, asks other state CMs to appeal to Court

By Team Newsable  |  First Published Aug 26, 2020, 6:56 PM IST

Chief ministers of all states decided to stand by the students and appeal to the Supreme Court to not conduct All India Engineering (JEE) and Medical Entrance Examination (NEET) tests amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Mamata Banerjee's plea is to postpone the examination.


West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to stand by the students and go to the Supreme Court. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday (August 26) called a meeting with other parties of the opposition, seeking postponement of the All India Engineering (JEE) and Medical Entrance Examination (NEET). WB chief minister Mamata Banerjee also questioned the decision on behalf of the candidates in the meeting. She said democracy had never seen so much oppression before.

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In the virtual meeting, Mamata Banerjee said that for the convenience of the students, it’s necessary. She appealed to all the states to form an alliance. She also said that every one of us will appeal to the Supreme Court if necessary. Mamata Banerjee said that the current situation is dire due to the COVID-19 pandemic and that in this situation, it is very important to stand by the students. Mamata Banerjee demanded postponing the examinations.

In a meeting with opposition parties on the same day (August 26), Mamata Banerjee accused the Centre of depriving the state. She said that the Central government was not providing financial assistance to the Bengal government. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the state government is providing multiple services free of cost, she said. She also complained that a lot of money was being spent on ventilators and medical services.

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Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh chief ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghela took part in the virtual meeting called by Sonia Gandhi.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has sharply criticized the decision of conducting examinations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. He said that if the test was not taken in the month of June, then there is no necessity of conducting it now.

Hemant Soren said that the state is going through a crisis. The students and their parents have to travel from one place to another to attend the examinations. This will make the situation worse and more people will be infected with COVID-19, he said.

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