Rahul Gandhi Kota Education Campaign

A train journey from Delhi to Rajasthan’s Kota this week to launch a campaign on issues plaguing the education sector, interactions with students in several cities, and a plan to raise education-related issues in the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi is set to embark on a new campaign against the BJP government in the coming weeks and months centred on education. As the Cockroach Janta Party, which began as an online phenomenon, holds street protests seeking the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over NEET paper leaks, the main Opposition party on Monday firmed up plans to launch a campaign by Gandhi in a big way to ensure that the anti-government space on a bread-and-butter issue such as education is not ceded to what it believes are “non-political” groupings. Gandhi held a lengthy meeting with leaders of the Youth Congress and student wing NSUI on Monday, sources said. The party believes the LoP should, while talking about paper leak and “failure of NTA”, flag broader issues such as “expensive fees, mental health of students, collapse of government colleges and schools, exam centralisation and saffronisation of education” and offer solutions to expand the scope of the campaign. Earlier this month, Gandhi met student Sarthak Siddhant, who revealed alleged irregularities in the CBSE’s tendering process for the selection of the vendor for the online marking system for the Class 12 exams. Read | CBSE row: Rahul Gandhi Meets students, takes dig at government On Wednesday, Gandhi will board the Jan Shatabdi Express from Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin station to travel to Kota, a popular coaching hub, where he will address a rally in the evening. The Congress wants students to board the train from various stops on the way and speak to Gandhi about issues afflicting the education sector. Congress sources said the party’s surveys had shown there is massive resonance on education issues in the 18 to 30 age group and the party is keen to focus on those issues. In the past, Gandhi has targeted the government on issues such as "irregularities in SIR, vote theft, capture of institutions, crony capitalism,” but those have not had much purchase in the electoral arena. Sources said the LoP believes education is an issue that touches every household. Conventions across the country The Congress has already announced that Gandhi will hold student conventions in Kota, Prayagraj, Patna, and Delhi to “highlight the hardships” faced by youths because of “paper leaks, rising examination costs and the government’s failure to ensure a fair and transparent recruitment and education system.” Sources said it was decided Monday to expand the campaign. Read | Rahul Gandhi to launch campaign against paper leaks from Rajasthan “Every paper leak, every cancelled examination, every incomplete recruitment process is not just a failure of the system; it is an attack on the dreams of millions of young people. I know you are exhausted. I know you are angry. But remember: when a government refuses to listen, we must raise our voices louder,” Gandhi said in a social media post earlier in the day.