Rahul Gandhi Allahabad youth outreach | ‘Where are the jobs?’: Rahul Gandhi ‘Chhatro Ki Goonj’ gives voice to youth anger in Allahabad
Youth anger found an electrifying outlet at Rahul Gandhi’s rock concert-like Chhatro Ki Goonj outreach in Allahabad on Saturday, with student after student called onto the dais to vent frustration at serial paper leaks, joblessness and an insensitive government ready to use brute force against protesters.
Rahul, who had traded his understated white T for a pink shirt, sought to become the voice of this discontent.
He alleged that data created by the youth was being exploited to benefit corporate groups, and that shrinking job opportunities had turned youngsters into “21st-century labourers”, forced to toil as gig workers.
Through presentations on a giant screen, the Congress leader attempted to show how government jobs were evaporating because of the privatisation of PSUs; how MSMEs and entrepreneurship were being “discouraged” by a failure to provide loans; how the manufacturing sector had been “decimated”; and how corporate groups were promoting AI at the expense of jobs.
“I want to talk about your pain and your potential to create data because the data created by you is being converted into wealth by somebody else,” Rahul said in Hindi, addressing a massive youth gathering at the Kayastha Pathshala grounds in Allahabad.
“You can create AI from data in the 21st century but can’t create data from AI the way you can’t do anything with a petrol engine without petrol. This data belongs to you because you have the imagination to create it,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the data and potential are yours but the system has put you in a chakravyuh (trap) to exploit you. Lakhs and crores (of rupees) are charged from your family for education — be it engineering, medical or any postgraduate degree — and then a certificate is given to you.… But it’s meaningless in today’s India because it doesn’t ensure you employment.”
Rahul said only 12 youngsters out of 1,000 get a job.
“You are encouraged to keep watching and making as many reels as possible. It’s the new addiction of the 21st century,” he said.
“Your data is taken, handed over to big companies, and then you’re told — ‘Do deliveries, work on apps…. Drive Uber. Become a gig worker; become a labourer. But don’t ask one question: Where are the jobs in this country?”
At the fast-paced event, youngsters — some of whom had taken part in student protests — were called on the stage at regular intervals to share their pain and experience, keeping the large gathering engaged.
A screen behind the dais showed slides of industrialist Gautam Adani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. The Congress displayed a screen grab of Modi’s first Instagram message to Gen Z, which had been ridiculed for the angle at which he held the camera.
In the spirit of the recent youth protests, anti-government memes made an appearance too.
Pointing to the screen, Rahul said: “The system is designed to fill Adani’s coffers, to keep Mo-Sha in power, and advance the RSS ideology. It has nothing to offer India’s students.”
He lauded the students for doing what their elders could not — dispel the sense of fear in the country: “You took the government head on, and changed the country.”
Rahul said: “The students tell me they want to be a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer, an IAS or an IPS. They have unlimited energy but their pathways to growth have been blocked. So they are sad and frustrated.”
He asked the students what happened if they failed to clear the exams of their choice. “Do you have a back-up plan?”
When they replied they had none, he said the Congress would plan something for them if voted to power.
Rahul signed off with a call against hate politics, saying the students were not to hate Modi-Shah, Adani or Bhagwat: “You have to change the system without hatred and violence.”
The Kayastha Pathshala Trust had initially denied permission for the programme — part of a nationwide campaign by Rahul — but buckled under pressure from the Congress.
Despite relentless rain, the students stayed for over three hours at the venue, which was only partially protected by canvas canopies.
Swati Sonkar, an Allahabad University student who was in the crowd, told reporters: “We thank Rahul Gandhi for raising his voice for us and listening to our problems because there is a need for reform, from primary to higher education.”
She added: “The schools are in bad shape and university teachers give us marks without seeing our copies. And we have to pay ₹2,500 for the scrutiny of each paper.”
The students had arrived from across Uttar Pradesh; many had come from Bihar.
Banners had been put up across Allahabad to discredit Rahul with slogans such as “Rahul! When will you visit Jharkhand” and “Meet of Hypocrisy”. Congress workers pulled down many of the banners.
Members of RSS student arm ABVP have been protesting in Ranchi against irregularities in Jharkhand Public Service Commission exams.
The Congress, an ally of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha government in Ranchi, has expressed support for the protests and announced that Rahul would hold a Chhatron Ki Goonj programme there soon.
