Adhikari Threatens Sit-in Protests Over College Admissions and Exam Results

20 August-Kolkata, India: Suvendu Adhikari, a BJP member and opposition leader, vowed to stage sit-in protests outside the State Education Department’s Bikash Bhavan headquarters beginning the following week if the State does not permit college admissions and release the results of pending exams by the end of this week.

Mr. Suvendu Adhikari, along with 15 Bharatiya Janata Party members, decided to meet West Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose on Monday and sent in a message requesting his immediate attention to the lengthy hold-up in the release of the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) results.

Authorities conducted the WBJEE entrance examination especially for recipients of architecture, engineering, technology, and pharmacy courses in West Bengal and state-run universities on April 27.

However, they have delayed the findings, most likely because the Supreme Court is now hearing arguments about the State’s Other Backwards Classes (OBC) reservation list.

Suvendu Adhikari on the situation

After meeting the governor, Mr. Adhikari said, “We have not begun first-year admissions three months after we concluded examinations. We have not declared JEE results. This is a very serious issue. Nearly 5 lakh candidates and their guardians are very worried. They are suffering… If we do not start college admissions by this week and if we do not publish the JEE results, BJP MLAs will hold dharnas in front of Bikash Bhavan from next week.”

According to Mr. Adhikari, 82,000 educational institutions in West Bengal closed down last year. He also lambasted the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, for wanting to privatise the state’s higher education system.

The memorandum stated that “The delay will lead to a drop in student turnout as many will reluctantly seek opportunities outside Bengal.In addition to the worst hit future of lakhs of meritorious students, the reputation of the educational institution in West Bengal [gets] hit which will reduce the number of students as they will go outside in huge number.”

BJP Members on the issue

In the meantime, the West Bengal government’s Directorate of Medical Education issued an “urgent notice” on August 18, stating that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2025 counselling and admissions process for medical and dental programs “will remain silent until further order.”

While BJP Union Minister and MP Sukumar Majumdar commented on the issue and said, “Someone has pushed the future of the state’s medical students into darkness. Why was the admission counseling, once started, suddenly halted indefinitely? Is this yet another attempt to appease narrow political interests by granting undue privilege to a particular group under the guise of reservation?” 

The Students Federation of India (SFI) activists protested the postponement of MBBS and BDS counselling as well as the delay in WBJEE results on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, by holding a demonstration next to Bikash Bhavan. When the police broke up the SFI’s march, a number of demonstrators were taken into custody.