Kicking off the Congress’s campaign against the government’s decision to go ahead with JEE (Main) and NEET, party leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday urged everyone to ‘unite your voice with lakhs of suffering students’.

Tweeting in English and Hindi, the 50-year-old former chief of the Congress wrote, “Unite your voice with lakhs of suffering students. #SpeakUpForStudentSafety from 10am onwards. Let’s make the Govt listen to the students.

The Congress is holding nationwide protests against the government’s decision to hold the exams that are scheduled for September. In a statement on Wednesday, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) President KC Venugopal called out the central government. He also  termed the government as “insensitive and mindless” for conducting the exams “in the middle of the ever-burgeoning COVID-19 crisis”.  

The Joint Entrance Examination for admission to engineering courses is scheduled to be held from September 1 to 6. The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical courses, is scheduled on September 13.

The protests will be held in front of the central government offices, at state and district headquarters. As per the party, social distancing guidelines will be followed during the protests.

The party will also organise an online campaign, #SpeakUpForStudentSafety, on Friday from 10:00 am onwards.