Demanding the postponement of Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE) and National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), the Telangana Congress and the National Students Union of India (NSUI) planned to protest at the Central government offices but the police prevented them from leaving the party headquarters — Gandhi Bhavan.
After a mild scuffle with the police the Congress leaders and cadre staged a dharna at Gandhi Bhavan itself. The protest was part of All India Congress Committee (AICC) call at the all-India level.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy along with other senior leaders, including former PCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah, former minister Marri Shashidhar Reddy, TPCC vice president Mallu Ravi, former MP M. Anjan Kumar Yadav, and other leaders like Vikram Goud, Bollu Kishan, Adam Santosh, Shaik Abdullah Sohail and Feroz Khan, participated in the protest.
The TPCC chief accused the BJP government at the Centre and TRS government in Telangana State of playing with the lives of lakhs of students by planning to conduct examinations during coronavirus pandemic.
He said COVID-19 cases were at their peak in almost all the States and India has recorded the world’s highest spike of 77,266 COVID-19 positive cases in a single day on Friday. Similarly, Telangana has been recording nearly 3,000 cases every day since the last one week.
In a situation where the pandemic has spread to the community level Central government wants to put 25 lakh students and their families at risk and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was silent on the issue. “Central government should postpone the exams to a later date as there was nothing important than the lives of students.”
Mr. Ponnala Lakshmaiah said that the Central government was blind to the reality and was not willing to realise even after several top leaders urged them postpone the exam. Former MP V. Hanumantha Rao staged a dharna at Aayakar Bhavan as part of the protest programme.