Indore: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed the fifth edition of ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ in Indore, speaking for around 60 minutes on the theme ‘System vs Students’. Around 20,000-25,000 young people attended the programme at the IDA Ground.
During an interaction with students, Gandhi said the system does not want students to ask questions and alleged that this results in the creation of “blind followers”.
He also said students had lost faith in the system, while acknowledging that candidates were also responsible for some problems. Students sitting in the audience responded, saying, “Sir, we have lost to the system.”
This was the fifth edition of Gandhi’s ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme. Before Indore, he had interacted with students in Kota, Prayagraj, Dehradun and Pune.
Youth and unemployment
The programme comes at a time when political parties are seeking greater engagement with Gen-Z and young voters ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections.
According to government figures cited in the report, India has around 36.74 crore people aged 15-29 in 2026, accounting for nearly 26% of the country’s population.
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2025 puts the unemployment rate among 15-29-year-olds at 9.9%. The rate was 8.3% in rural areas and 13.6% in urban areas. Among young men, it stood at 9.3%, compared with 11.3% among young women.
The data also shows that 24.9% of people aged 15-29 were NEET, meaning they were not in employment, education or training.
According to Election Commission data, voters aged 18-29 accounted for 22.78% of the total electorate during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Rahul meets family of student who died in Delhi hostel incident
During his visit, Rahul Gandhi also met the family of Arpit Jaj, a 21-year-old student from Dewas who died in a Delhi hostel incident on September 6.
Arpit was a student of Delhi University.
