Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has launched a new student outreach campaign, “Chhatron Ki Goonj” (Echo of Students), in Kota, calling for an end to “India’s exploitative education system”.

Addressing thousands of students at the rally in Kota, widely known as India’s coaching hub, Gandhi argued that the country’s education system functions less as a pathway to opportunity and more as a barrier to it. “India’s education system is an extortion machine. We want a system that allows you to dream big,” he said, adding that young people are being subjected to excessive pain and stress.

He insisted the gathering was not a political event but a platform to hear out the everyday struggles of the country’s youth. “This is not a political meeting. This is a meeting about you, about the young people who are struggling to get a future,” he told the audience.

According to a release issued alongside the campaign, “Chhatron Ki Goonj” aims to spotlight issues including “crushing coaching fees, paper leaks that wipe out years of preparation overnight, fewer seats with more fees, and a degree that no longer secures a job”. The campaign – to be carried forward by Congress-affiliated youth wings NSUI and Youth Congress – will next move to Prayagraj on July 10, Patna on July 11, and Delhi on July 14, with Gandhi expected to address conventions at each stop.

Gandhi presented figures to argue that competitive exams impose a disproportionate financial strain on middle-class families. He claimed NEET aspirants alone collectively spend close to Rs 1.32 lakh crore annually on coaching, fees and related costs – a sum he equated to the Union government’s entire education budget. Widening the lens to five major exams (NEET, JEE, UPSC, SSC and RRB), he put the combined annual spending by aspirants at nearly Rs 3.5 lakh crore, which he said matches the combined budgets of five central ministries covering women and child development, labour, education, health and science.

On NEET specifically, he pointed to the scale of competition: “For NEET alone, around 22 lakh students appear, but less than one lakh get selected. These are extremely difficult odds,” he said.

Gandhi also argued that the system funnels students toward a narrow set of careers – medicine, engineering, civil services, law and the armed forces – while sidelining other ambitions and talents. “The system takes huge amounts of money from families and then shuts the door on most students,” he said, questioning whether the model creates genuine opportunity for India's youth.

In one of the event’s most charged moments, Gandhi displayed the suicide note of Akanksha Chaturvedi, a NEET aspirant. “I want all of us to work together to ensure that no student in this country ever feels what this girl felt,” Gandhi said.

The BJP accused Gandhi of politicising the issue ahead of the NEET-UG re-exam scheduled for June 21. Party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi asked at a press conference in Delhi whether the Kota event was driven by “Congress’ internal politics” at the expense of medical aspirants in the final stretch of their preparation.

In a post on X, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said he has set out for Kota, but two names are echoing in his heart.

“Yesterday, Umesh in Sikar and Riya in Dehradun – both ended their lives under the pressure of Re-NEET. 22- and 23-year-old kids – who were meant to soar in the open skies of their dreams – lost to this unjust system. These deaths are the result of a broken, corrupt system,” he said.

“Today, from Kota, we will begin that fight with just one goal – that no child’s dreams shatter like this again, that no parent ever has to lose their child in this way again. Every family’s pain will now echo across the country as the ‘chhatron ki goonj’,” Gandhi said.

In another post, he criticised the government after it temporarily restricted access to Telegram, saying it was like locking the victim’s house instead of catching the thief.

Gandhi’s campaign around the education system comes days after the Cockroach Janta Party organised its first series of protests in Delhi, Lucknow and Pune. The CJP had recently been discussed at a significant INDIA bloc meeting held after the recent assembly elections. Several leaders had questioned whether support for the CJP meant the people no longer had faith in the Opposition parties.

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