Cong gears up for Rahul’s ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ in Pune, Fadnavis hits out

On Thursday, police granted permission for the event, subject to several conditions, including ensuring that no religious sentiments are hurt during the programme

MUMBAI: Preparations are in full swing for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ (Voice of Students) initiative in Pune, with 50,000-odd students already registering for the event to be held at SSPMS College on Saturday.

Cong gears up for Rahul’s ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ in Pune, Fadnavis hits out

On Thursday, police granted permission for the event, subject to several conditions, including ensuring that no religious sentiments are hurt during the programme.

Gandhi will visit Maharashtra for a day and interact with students at the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ event. Senior Congress leaders, including state president Harshwardhan Sapkal, and party leaders Satej Patil and Yashomati Thakur, camping in Pune to oversee preparations for the programme.

Patil said the campaign had reached students across the state through social media. “Students have been registering from all cities and districts as the event is free. They only have to scan a QR code to enrol,” he said.

According to Patil, the party is expecting a massive turnout. “Around 50,000 students have registered for the event. We believe 40 to 50% of students who have registered will attend the programme, while an additional 10% who have not registered will also come,” Patil told HT.

Meanwhile, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis alleged that participation has been restricted to students from educational institutions affiliated to or run by Congress leaders. “Dialogue with students is a welcome step. However, I would have been happier if he had engaged in a broader dialogue with young people across the board. As far as I know, instructions have been given to bring students from institutions run by Congress leaders and register them for the event,” Fadnavis told the media on Thursday.

He also questioned whether the programme would amount to a genuine dialogue with students or was an attempt by Gandhi to regain political ground. “There seems to be an effort to bring in people who subscribe to a particular ideology. They may call it ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’, but if the students have been invited through Congress channels, the interaction essentially becomes a monologue rather than a dialogue,” he said.