A prominent voice from the Bharatiya Janata Party that has come to support the JEE and NEET aspirants is Rajya Sabha MP Dr Subramanian Swamy. While Swamy wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, he has now said that one cannot risk the lives of students at the cost of conducting an exam right now.
"COVID-19 is rapidly increasing in our country. Rich people are least affected by this. Mostly affected are the middle class and lower middle class and they cannot afford treatment," Swamy said in a statement. He said that a lot of students are allotted centres far away and are forced to travel more than 500 kilometres. "They would have to reach that city at least a day before, increasing their susceptibility of getting infected," he said.
Now travel, will be a hurdle for a lot of them since the lockdown is in place in a lot of cities. "How can we expect poor students to arrange private vehicles in these conditions. In addition, a parent travelling with the child will further worsen the condition," he said. He added that the COVID (Standard operating procedure) SOPs failed to work during the exams conducted in the past. "In my opinion, it is dangerous and careless to tink the students are mentally and physically prepared to take these exams. There are already numerous cases of suicides happening as students are unable to withstand the pressure due to uncertainty and confusion," he added.
