E-Paper
Rahul Gandhi calls on youth to join Kota protest against exam paper leaks on June 17: 'Need to raise your voice louder'
The campaign is being launched from Rajasthan's Kota and will subsequently travel to Allahabad, Patna and Delhi as part of a nationwide student movement.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday called on students and young job aspirants to join the "Students' Echo" (Chhatron Ki Goonj) protest in Rajasthan's Kota on June 17. The Opposition leader accused the government of failing India's youth through repeated exam paper leaks, cancelled tests and delayed recruitment processes.
On X, Gandhi said that in today's India, young people were being "punished for daring to dream" and that hard work no longer guaranteed success. He said every paper leak, cancelled examination and stalled recruitment drive was a systemic failure and a blow to the dreams of millions of students and job seekers.
Gandhi, acknowledging the frustration and anger among the youth, said when the government refuses to listen, people must raise their voices louder. He asked students to come together in Kota and make their concerns impossible to ignore.
"Let's come together and become a roar that can't be ignored. Starting from Kota, then reaching every corner of the country," Gandhi said, describing the campaign as a fight for the future of India's youth.
The Congress has sought to make issues such as examination irregularities, paper leaks and delays in government recruitment a major political issue, targeting the Centre over concerns affecting students and job aspirants. Gandhi said he stood with students in their struggle for fair opportunities and employment.
The June 17 event will be held at Shri Ram Rangmanch, Dussehra Maidan in Kota. It will be the first stop of a nationwide outreach programme under the banner "Save Education, Save Your Future".
The campaign is scheduled to travel next to Allahabad on July 10, Patna on July 11 and Delhi on July 14.
CJP student protests
This comes amid a nationwide campaign by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a satirical front holding protests across the country demanding the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination irregularities, including the NEET paper leak and issues with CBSE's on-screen marking system.
Actor Prakash Raj joined students and activists at Bengaluru's Freedom Park on Sunday during a protest organised by the CJP. Addressing the gathering alongside activist Sonam Wangchuk and CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, Raj said India's youth had decided to fight for their future and called for greater accountability.
Similar protests were held in Hyderabad, Delhi and Pune where Wangchuk described the movement as an effort to raise awareness and protect students' rights rather than seek political power.
Rahul Gandhi slams Modi
The Opposition leader has time and again slammed the education system. Earlier this month, Gandhi criticised the Centre and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) over alleged irregularities in the evaluation of Class 12 answer sheets. He called the process “fraud”. On X, Gandhi alleged that changes in CBSE tender documents over multiple revisions weakened technical requirements for scanning answer sheets, which he said led to the use of mobile phones for scanning.
He said earlier rules required robotic scanners and 300 DPI resolution, but later revisions reduced the standards and made the specifications more generic. Gandhi claimed this led to issues such as blurred copies, missing pages and unscanned answer books, and said, “This is fraud. And every child whose marks were wrongly evaluated is a victim of it.”
He also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Dharmendra Pradhan over their response to the issue, saying their silence meant “complicity”.
