CWC meet to chart expansion of Rahul’s ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is expected to chalk out a strategy on Wednesday to “expand the scope” of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi ’s popular programme ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’, which started from Kota to interact with students. The next episode is planned at Pune.

According to a senior strategist of the party, the upcoming CWC meeting will also discuss the party’s preparations for the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

As the Congress leadership finalises the meeting’s agenda, party strategists said expanding Chhatron ki Gunj is high on the agenda. “We must expand the programme and keep the momentum alive,” said a leader. The outreach programme is an interactive convention to discuss education reforms, jobs and other student-related issues.

Also Read | Rahul raising students’ voice through ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’: Congress’s UP in-charge

Starting on June 17, Gandhi’s student outreach programme has been held at Kota, Dehradun and Prayagraj. The fourth edition, exclusively for female students, will be held in Pune on August 22. “India’s girls deserve a future without barriers. Raise your voice and be part of the movement,” Congress said on X on Monday.

Gandhi had earlier described the student protest as “not anger, not violence, not hatred. This was a deep expression of the youth of this country, of the future generation of this country.”

Also Read | ‘Distorting it’: Shashi Tharoor says remarks on Rahul Gandhi's ‘Chhatron ki goonj’ campaign not an attack on Congress

“The programme is important to the Congress as it is an outreach effort to the students and the Gen Z in the wake of the student protests in central Delhi and other parts of India that led to the resignation of (then) education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and forced the government to take a series of steps,” a second leader said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi formed a six-member task force led by former UIDAI chief Nandan Nilekani while the NTA sacked 50 staff members to reform the exam system.

Now, Gandhi’s outreach to students assumes greater importance after The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Sunday accounted re-conduct of the University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) examination for three papers, after “multiple errors” were found in the exam conducted from June 22 to June 30 this year.

Saubhadra Chatterji is Deputy Political Editor at the Hindustan Times. He writes on both politics and policies.