{"id":14990,"date":"2026-08-21T13:19:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T13:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=14990"},"modified":"2026-08-21T13:19:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T13:19:31","slug":"congress-congresss-renewed-youth-outreach-how-cjp-has-forced-political-parties-to-course-correct-india-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=14990","title":{"rendered":"Congress: Congress\u2019s renewed youth outreach: How CJP has forced political parties to course correct | India News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"Congress\u2019s<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Congress CWC meeting put youth outreach and student issues at the heart of the party\u2019s strategy.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NEW DELHI: The success of the student-powered Jantar Mantar protests seems to have forced political parties, on both sides of the divide, to return to the drawing board and redraw their strategies to woo the youth. The fact that CJP-led protests mobilised youth in large numbers against the government and forced Dharmendra Pradhan to resign left the opposition in a tight spot – as the students achieved what the parties couldn\u2019t in the last 12 years.Little wonder then, the Congress<\/a> Working Committee – the highest think tank of the grand old party, that met earlier this week devoted a lot of time discussing how to reclaim youth support for the party. The Congress announced a slew of measures to lead the fight for issues that have enraged the youth against the government and perhaps also the political parties.<\/p>\n

Rahul\u2019s renewed youth outreach <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

A glimpse of the new Congress strategy was visible today when Rahul Gandhi reached a police station in the national capital with a victim of a pellet gun used allegedly during the July 20 Sansad Chalo protest of the Jantar Mantar students, and sat on a dharna demanding that police lodge a complaint.Rahul\u2019s police station protest follows Congress\u2019s renewed pitch on youth outreach, deliberated and decided at the party\u2019s Working Committee meeting held earlier this week. The CWC meeting, attended by the party\u2019s top brass, finalised several steps to win the confidence of the youngsters and reclaim the opposition leadership space vis-a-vis the students.While the working committee launched a broadside against the Modi government for betraying the youth, it also finalised initiatives to win back their confidence.<\/p>\n

Education-to-employment roadmap<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

‘Education-to-Employment Roadmap’ for the youth was one of the key measures announced after the CWC meeting. The Congress has asked its four chief ministers to prepare a report on the reforms needed in the education and examination system in their respective states and submit it to Kharge within a month.Sources said Rahul Gandhi stressed that the chief ministers should prepare this report in consultation with education experts and all stakeholders. The objective of the exercise should be to improve the education and examination system in their respective states and secure the future of students.The Congress also announced plans to expand its ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ programme, which has been used by Rahul Gandhi to interact with students, to nearly 800 cities across the country. This programme has already been held with reasonable success in Kota, Dehradun and Prayagraj and is scheduled in Pune this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u2018Modi govt never had time to listen to youth\u2019<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, in his opening remarks at the CWC, set the agenda for youth outreach, accusing the Narendra Modi government of “destroying” students’ future.“The anger that has arisen among the youth across the country is not a sudden or one-day phenomenon. This government has never had the time to listen to them; instead, it has consistently sought temporary measures to sidestep the issues. Consequently, they have been forced to take to the streets,” Kharge said in his CWC speech.The CWC passed a resolution expressing its \u201cdeep distress\u201d over the plight of the youth and accusing the Modi government of betraying young people.“Over the past decade, paper leaks have assumed epidemic proportions, with at least 152 cases of paper leaks reported since 2014. The recent cancellation and re-conduct of the NEET examination alone resulted in at least 26 student suicides, while more than 90 other students have lost their lives for similar reasons over the past five years,” the CWC resolution said.“Young people are bearing the greatest brunt of unemployment, and with 12 years having passed and opportunities shrinking, their circumstances continue to worsen. Unemployment among educated youth has now become a crisis of systemic government failure,” it said.The CWC also strongly condemned the “arbitrary and brutal repression unleashed by the Modi government against student movements – including attacks on young women and children, the use of electric shock batons, tear gas, pellet guns and AK-47s, and the blatant censorship of voices of dissent”.The CWC resolution also targeted Prime Minister Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah for staying away from Parliament and not answering questions on these alleged \u201cserious failures.\u201d<\/p>\n

How CJP protest surprised political parties<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The Congress recalibration follows the CJP protest, which started on June 6 and put all political parties in a Catch-22 situation.When the protest started, most of the mainstream parties stayed away. Then activist Sonam Wangchuk joined and amplified the agitation with an indefinite fast starting June 28. The initial days of his fast saw a largely muted response from most of the political parties.But the dynamics changed on July 20 – the opening day of the Monsoon session of Parliament – when the protesters went ahead with their \u201cSansad Chalo\u201d march. The police crackdown on protesters catapulted the protest into a national concern and gave the opposition parties a weapon to attack the government.<\/p>\n

Congress forced to act<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The Congress, which till then remained largely away from the CJP movement – focusing instead on Rahul Gandhi\u2019s \u201cChhatron ki goonj\u201d programme- was forced to act proactively to ensure it was not missing in action.So, on July 21, Congress leaders were invited to party president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence — 10 Rajaji Marg — to wish him on his birthday. Once they all assembled there, they marched to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence at Lok Kalyan Marg and staged a sit-in protest there against the alleged brutality committed against students during the Cockroach Janata Party’s march to Parliament. The surprise sit-in led by Rahul, Kharge and Priyanka sent the government into a tizzy. It first tried to persuade the leaders to vacate the sensitive site. But when that did not work, police moved in to clear the protesters.This was the Congress\u2019s first direct attempt to take a lead on the students\u2019 protest. However, the effort fizzled out as the Modi government relented on July 25 and accepted CJP\u2019s demand for Dharmendra Pradhan\u2019s resignation.The Congress then shifted focus to the issue of police brutality against the student protesters on July 20 and trained its guns on Union home minister Amit Shah. It unleashed a relentless campaign inside and outside Parliament seeking Amit Shah\u2019s resignation over the alleged use of pellet guns against protesters, which eventually led to the session washout.<\/p>\n

Rahul backs Jharkhand protesters<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

When students in Jharkhand followed the Jantar Mantar template and began a hunger strike against alleged irregularities in examinations conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC), Rahul Gandhi went public with his support for the protesting students, despite the Congress being part of the state government.Rahul wrote a letter to Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, a Congress ally, urging him to personally meet representatives of students protesting irregularities in state recruitment examinations and address their remaining concerns.The former Congress chief called the youth \u201cIndia\u2019s future\u201d and said: \u201cWe owe them our solidarity and support at this moment of crisis. Please do your utmost to hear them out and take appropriate action towards the resolution of this issue.”Days later, the Jharkhand government accepted most of the students\u2019 demands, and the protest ended. It\u2019s a different matter that the protesting students may feel high and dry as the Jharkhand high court put a stay on the government\u2019s decision to cancel all previous competitive exams.<\/p>\n

Congress follows CJP in Rajasthan<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

With the CJP shifting focus on Rajasthan government schools, the state unit of the Congress was quick to react and take to the streets in support of the students. When a team of CJP was attacked outside a school, the state Congress quickly condemned the incident. Leader of opposition in state assembly Tika Ram Jully denounced the use of violence, stating that the public has a right to know the status of local educational facilities.“This is wrong. I condemn this. There should be no violence. The condition of schools should come to light. There is no place for such violence in India. People must present their views in a non-violent manner. Schools are in bad condition; they want to hide it and cover up their sins. They won’t be able to do it,” Tika Ram Jully said.The state Congress leaders also slammed a recent state government order restricting unauthorised entry, media coverage, and filming on public school campuses, perhaps aimed at restricting the entry of CJP teams in state government schools.<\/p>\n

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