Rahul Gandhi reaches out to the crowd during his public rally in Gunpur on Saturday. (PTI)

Gunupur (Rayagada), March 8: After trying to win tribal hearts, a traditional Congress vote bank, on the first day of his visit to the state yesterday, Rahul Gandhi played the youth card today.

“In every party, including ours, I see that there is no space for youths,” he said while addressing a rally here this morning. “If you want to change a country, you have to work together with a new force and involve youth in the initiative,” said the 37-year-old leader amid applause from young masses. “Change is possible only if young people join the political process.”

Rahul turned nostalgic about his illustrious father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who had addressed the last political meeting here before his assassination at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in 1991. “Seventeen years have passed since my father’s death. He was not my father alone, he was, in fact, the voice of the Indian youth. With his death, the voice of the nation’s youth faded away,” he said.

The AICC leader in charge of youth and students wing said he would offer opportunities to youngsters to work with the All India Youth Congress and the National Students’ Union of India, which are “true youth organisations of the country”.