Congress party Press Conference by party leaders AM Singhvi, Hemant Soren, Derek O Brien, and Uday Samant:

• This Government is one of inefficiency, apathy and contradictions. Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab, Jharkhand, Puducherry, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have come together on major public interest issues- federal issues and that of students
  
  
• The logistics themselves show what a mockery you are making of Covid safeguards. The number of students is around 25 lakh. What kind of social distancing are you talking about?
  
  
• This Govt has actually drawn itself in a corner and now trying to get out of it by knee jerk, ego-centered reactions. These exams were scheduled in April, you kept postponing, you slept and did not create alternatives, now you’re stuck
  
  
• Process of mobility is an issue. Distance to exam centres runs into hundreds of kms. They have not provided one centre per district which is minimum. There is no infrastructure, one temperature gun is hardly a safeguard
  
  
• Such large movements are a recipe for disaster when health, life & security are concerned. We’ve tried to give a responsible roadmap. Even if you postpone exams to Oct-Nov, get results in 6-8 weeks, you can comfortably start in January & complete the academic year
  
  
• Reconsideration petition that has been filed is in four parts:
  • Safety and Health
  • Rational
  • Balanced ways in which you can provide both objectives of health & education
  • Policy rules based on which you will be able to do this
    
    
• The short order that dismissed an earlier review petition has given no reasons. CLAT exams with lesser students, have been postponed from 7th to 28th September. We hope that this convergence of views by important states of India will lead to a public interest result