Rahul Gandhi Cites Student's Hostel Woes to Press Modi for Answers
Rahul Gandhi has asked PM Modi to respond to a female student's complaint about missing hostels and costly PG accommodation.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday pressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for answers on the shortage of hostels for female students, using an exchange from his youth outreach programme in Indore a day earlier to frame the demand.
Recalling the interaction at the fifth edition of 'Chhatron Ki Goonj', Mr. Gandhi said a young woman who had moved from a village to the city to study asked him why the government could find money to light diyas but not to build hostels. With no hostel available, he said, she was forced to live in paying-guest accommodation, where safety alone costs lakhs, and where monthly rent worries and the fear of losing shelter hang over her studies.
"Many girls drop out of their studies for this very reason - because there's no place to live," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
He also questioned the state of housing allowances, saying they do not keep pace with inflation and are vulnerable to corruption, before asking Mr. Modi directly whether he had an answer to the student's question.
Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera amplified the post, arguing that the Prime Minister's spending priorities ran from public relations events and designer clothing to luxury cars, aircraft and skincare, while education for India's youth went wanting. He listed absent infrastructure, quality teachers, training, hostels and jobs, and said the Prime Minister's disregard for education was telling.
Mr. Gandhi's remarks followed his address on Saturday at the Indore event, held in a BJP stronghold, where he spoke on the theme 'system versus students' and took questions from Gen Z and other young participants on education, recruitment and employment.
On that occasion, he alleged that a rotten system, particularly in education, had taken hold of the country and preferred students who did not ask questions. Students, he said, are curious, question authority and seek answers on how institutions function, how recruitment and examinations are conducted and what opportunities exist, while those he described as 'andhbhakts' lack those qualities and spread hatred instead.
Mr. Gandhi alleged the system operates in layers and named Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, claiming they exercise control over different aspects of the country's political, institutional and economic life. Students, he said, pose a challenge to that arrangement because they remain curious and keep questioning what happens around them.