Five takeaways from Modi’s address to first-time voters

In his virtual address to around 30 lakh first-time voters from across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday touched upon a wide range of talking points for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, trying to frame the same in a language that spoke to the youth. He also promised to physically meet those among them whose suggestions for the BJP manifesto were accepted by the party.

Here are the five most important takeaways from his 25-minute speech earlier today, on the occasion of National Voters’ Day.

‘Responsibility as voters’

While asking the youth to send suggestions for the BJP manifesto, Modi said the responsibility of the youth didn’t end with voting themselves, but in getting others to vote, especially ones who are yet to have their names included in the voters’ list. He also said India’s future rested on their shoulders, and is expressed through their electoral choices, which is why they should shun “family-run parties” that do not allow youth from outside their ruling families “to rise in life”.

‘Deciding India’s future over the next 25 years’

The PM said that just as a hundred years ago, India’s youth rose up to fight for freedom — which they achieved over the next 25 years — so too should today’s youth rise up to the challenge of making India a developed country by 2047, over the next 25 years. He congratulated the first-time voters for being born during “Amrit Kaal” and encouraged them to elect stable governments that “hasten India’s rise to the third-largest economy”, speed up reforms, energise the digital revolution, send the first Indian to space, ensure that India establishes its first space station “as it rises in influence around the world”.

‘Need for stable, majority governments’

The PM said stable