NEW DELHI: Amid indications of regime-opponents looking to enlist them for their challenge to the govt, PM Narendra Modi on Thursday sought to co-opt India’s Gen Z in his scheme of a developed India by praising them for driving entrepreneurship and technological innovations in a host of sectors, and saying they can serve as a model for the young generation of the world.“Today, I can confidently tell Gen Z of the world that if they want true inspiration, they can find it from Bharat’s Gen Z,” he said in a video address after the inauguration of space startup Skyroot’s infinity campus in Hyderabad. India’s youth always places national interest above everything else, he further emphasised.
His pointed reference to the young generation comes in the backdrop of what has come to be known as Gen Z protests in several countries, including in India’s neighbourhood – Bangladesh and Nepal where massive stirs led by largely youthful protestors led to fall of govts – and nations as far afield as Mexico, Indonesia and Madagascar.In India, opposition leaders have sought to co-opt Gen Z, which includes those born roughly between 1997 and early 2012. Congress’ Rahul Gandhi reached out to them during the Bihar polls as he invoked “vote chori” and asked them to save democracy by their votes.
