New Delhi: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS-affiliated student organisation, has alleged that Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi is more interested in using students for political objectives than in addressing their concerns.
The Congress has been holding student outreach programmes under the banner “Student Voice”, where Gandhi participates and criticises the BJP-led Centre on issues such as question paper leaks, fee hikes, alleged irregularities in recruitment exams and unemployment.
Reacting to these events, ABVP national general secretary Virendra Singh Solanki said student issues should be raised by students themselves, adding that Gandhi is not a student but the Leader of Opposition in Parliament. He also claimed the Congress is attempting to enter student politics through these programmes.
Solanki further alleged that students and youth are being mobilised for political purposes, and that entertainment elements such as dance performances and comedy or mimicry artistes are used to draw crowds. He claimed that for a recent “Student Voice” event in Indore, students were brought in from different parts of Madhya Pradesh and were paid.
He said ABVP, in contrast, works with students in universities and colleges and takes their issues to bodies such as the University Grants Commission, AICTE, National Testing Agency and NCERT, as well as to the government.
