Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on Thursday accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of "playing with the lives" of youths by being 'adamant' on holding JEE-NEET exams amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jakhar's reaction came a day after Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh asked his state advocate general to coordinate with his counterparts in other Opposition-ruled states for filing a joint review petition in the Supreme Court for the deferment of the all-India joint entrance tests for graduation courses in medicines and engineering amid the pandemic.
Jakhar asked if students' lives were "worthless" than those of MPs or MLAs for the Modi government.
It was for the first time in the history of the Parliament that the seating arrangement of the MPs was being changed on a large scale to ensure their safety, he said in a statement here.
"Will it be appropriate to put the health of millions of students who will have to sit together in the examination centres?" he asked.
Former MP Jakhar said, in fact, the Modi government was "adamant" on conducting JEE-NEET examinations only because Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was the first to demand that these examinations should not be held at this critical stage.
"The Modi government is now playing with the lives of the people for the sole purpose of discrediting Rahul and that too at a time when the corona pandemic is at its peak in the country," he said.
"When various types of traffic restrictions were in place, it was not even safe to go out of the house, how could millions of students reach the examination centres?" he further asked.
And even if they do arrive, what guarantee does the central government offer that the pandemic will not spread, Jakhar said.
He said MPs and MLAs were being tested for coronavirus before the Parliament or Vidhan Sabha sessions.
"Does the government have arrangements to carry out tests for such a huge number of aspirants who seek to appear in the exams," he asked.
The scepticism of the central government to justify its 'wrong' decision was a 'threat' to the health of the entire society and a step to weaken the country's fight against the COVID-19, he said.
