Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the country’s education system was built around “extortion” that pressured and stressed out students, beginning his “Chhatron ki Goonj” series of rallies from Rajasthan’s coaching hub Kota.

Thousands of youngsters and their parents took part in the rally, conducted like a rock show with rapper “Karma” Vivek Arora opening the event.

Rahul began his TED-style talk with the message: “I want to make the reason for my visit absolutely crystal clear... this is not a political meeting. This is a meeting about you, about the young people who are struggling to secure a future. I will not utter the words BJP, Congress, politics or elections.”

Contrary to expectations, the Congress leader did not lash out at the BJP for the NEET and CBSE fiascos — the trigger for the rally series.

The Congress has accused the BJP of intimidating coaching centre owners to prevent students from attending the rally. The BJP hit out at Rahul for his alleged insensitivity in holding the event four days before the NEET retest.

The Congress MP drew attention to a slide on the screen behind him showing a photo and the suicide note of Akanksha Chaturvedi, an NEET aspirant who died in Nagpur last month after the exam was scrapped following a paper leak.

“Akanksha wanted to become a doctor. I spoke to her father a few days ago. He is paralysed. He had taken out a loan. And Akanksha wrote — I will read the last line for you: ‘Sorry Mom and Dad, I ruined everything’…,” Rahul said.

He said it was not Akanksha’s or her parents’ fault. “India’s education system pressurises its children, causes them stress, suppresses and crushes them; and this is not right for the country. I want us all to work together to ensure that no other student — no student in this crowd, no student in this country — ever feels what this young lady felt, or ever feels the desire to kill themselves,” he said.

Rahul interacted with five students on stage who were preparing for the NEET, IIT-JEE and the UPSC civil services exam. He later spoke to a family whose daughter is preparing for the civil services.

He asked them why they wanted to restrict their career options to medicine, engineering and the civil services. Estimating his audience at around 3,000, Rahul said only one in as many aspirants becomes an IAS officer, merely 30 get into IITs, and only 180 become doctors.

“I think this is a crime…. These are not the odds our young people should have to face. You are very brave; you are very strong. That is a different matter, but this is stressful,” he told the aspirants. “The Indian education system is a rejection system. It is not a selection system. That is the reality we are facing. I don’t mean to discourage you because you should dream, and I am pretty sure that you will succeed. But what I want to tell this country is that you are facing extremely difficult odds. That is why we had the tragedy that we had.”

Rahul pointed out that an estimated ₹3.5 lakh crore is spent on coaching for the NEET, JEE, Railway Recruitment Board, Staff Selection Commission and the UPSC civil services exams, which cumulatively have around six crore aspirants every year. This is larger than the Union budget for education, health, labour, science and women and child development.

Naresh Mahawar, the father of a UPSC aspirant, told Rahul: “Sir, my financial situation is quite weak, but the house I built through my hard work — I might even sell that (to pay for his daughter Bhavana’s coaching). But I will make my child’s dream come true; that comes from my heart.”

The Congress MP replied: “But the reality is that the work you are doing by taking on debt is work for the nation. The nation’s duty is to educate its youth.”

Bhavana said: “Vacancies are already limited…. Where are students supposed to go amid this fraud?”

Rahul said he envisioned an education system that would allow every single Indian to dream big. “The second role of the education system should be to help you realise that dream. And the third — and most crucial — point is that your dream should be fulfilled at the lowest possible cost.”

He called upon the crowd to scan a QR code that would open to a suggestions page on his website. Rahul’s next rallies are in Allahabad on July 10, Patna on July 11 and Delhi on July 14.