KOLKATA: Senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Saturday claimed that 90 per cent of the applicants from West Bengal are willing to sit for the NEET and the JEE examinations and accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of "ruining" their future.
Banerjee has demanded that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) be postponed due to the COVID-19 situation.
"Even though other non-BJP ruled states are demanding the deferment of the exams, they have also made necessary arrangements for conducting them.
"The West Bengal government, however, has not made any such arrangement and is opposing the conduct of the examinations just for the sake of it. It is playing with the future of the students," Vijayvargiya, the BJP's national general secretary, told reporters at Bagdogra airport near Siliguri.
Vijayvargiya also alleged that the chief minister was leading the state to the path of political violence ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections.
His allegation came after Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, gave a "do or die" call against the BJP-led government at the Centre, vowing to give a "taste of freedom" to the entire country by defeating the saffron party's "political epidemic" in the 2021 Assembly polls in West Bengal.
She had made the statement while addressing a virtual rally of the TMC Chhatra Parishad, the students' wing of the ruling party in West Bengal, in Kolkata on Thursday.
"People of West Bengal believe in democracy, while Mamata Banerjee believes in violence. If we come to power, political violence will end," Vijayvargiya, the saffron party's central observer for the state, said.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee launched a fresh salvo against his central counterpart Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', tweeting, "Amid this global pandemic, @DrRPNishank can you guarantee safety of nearly 30 lakh students who have registered for JEE & NEET exams? "With the transport system still not fully operational, why do you want to jeopardise their future so desperately? Immediately postpone the exams!" he demanded.