Youth engagement has been a highlight of the Modi government’s policy. Since the Modi government first came to power in 2014, the discourse on Bharat has been steadily shifting to the role played by Bharatiya youth in nation-building.
Historically speaking, youth in Bharat has been largely apolitical. Even when one talks about voter turnout, the educated urban youth seem to be the ones who are least interested in politics and don’t typically care much about voting. Another issue is that with most educated young people settling in places away from their hometowns for job purposes, voting becomes a practical issue. For voting on the day of the election, they would have to travel back to their hometown where they are registered as a voter.
Most people probably think it’s not worth the hassle and even those who would like to vote, are unable to do so because of multiple practical considerations. Many first-time voters are away from their hometowns studying in various universities and institutes across the country or preparing for coaching entrances. In such a scenario, unless and until they get a supportive ecosystem encouraging them to vote, chances are they wouldn’t be bothered to vote at all.
A lot of material is available online to corroborate the thesis that young Bharatiyas are the ones who are most disenchanted with voting. An article published by the Deccan Herald in October 2023 throws light on the low participation of youth in the country’s voting process, even as our overall voting percentages are increasing remarkably. “As per Lokniti-CSDS studies, the youth vote, which grew from 58 percent in 2009 to 68 percent in 2014, was even higher than the average voter turnout.
This also impacted the defeat of the incumbent Congress. However, the 2019 elections saw a stagnation in voter turnout of around 67.4 per cent, despite a 9.3 per cent growth in electorate size. The ECI identifies that the youth, especially those from urban areas, are less interested in the elections. This is a possible factor despite the marginal year-on-year increasing voter turnouts, thus becoming a rising concern that requires a collaborative effort”, says the article.
Another important point that this article raises about youth voting patterns in Bharat is that many young people do not vote simply because they have not registered themselves to vote yet. Voter registration can be a complicated process for first-time voters and thus, more awareness needs to be created regarding the registration process. The Election Commission has now introduced remote voting using the Multi-Constituency Remote Electronic Voting Machine which can hopefully address the issue of young voters who work in places other than their hometowns. But perhaps more than anything else, political parties need to convince young voters that casting their vote is worth it and that the government they choose to vote for has an impact on their life choices and trajectory.
This election, cycle, BJP has taken a lead in this regard by introducing its innovative “Coffee with Youth” campaign. The basic idea of the Coffee With Youth campaign is taken from the BJP’s trademark “Chai pe Charcha” initiative. However, the new campaign focusing on interacting with urban youth in small-scale informal settings like cafes, restaurants, etc. is more direct and interactive.
The campaign has been first launched in Maharashtra by the youth wing of the BJP. The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha Maharashtra (BJYM ) has launched the “Coffee with Youth” campaign to hold discussions with young people, especially first-time voters.
Under the aegis of this campaign, speakers will be addressing groups of 150-200 people at cafes, gardens, etc. They would brief the young voters on various successful initiatives of the BJP government and also address their questions. Thus, the format would be that of a brainstorming session where young voters can share their specific concerns and viewpoints with the speakers. As a part of the campaign, BJP has also come out with coffee mugs featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo along with “Coffee with Youth” written in bold.
BJP has also launched the “Namo Yuva Chaupal” campaign targeting the rural youth. Coffee wouldn’t be a feature of this campaign, but similar meetings will be held in various community spaces in villages where the party speakers will interact with rural youth. The party will also reportedly hold a “Namo Samvad ( Dialogue ) at each of its Shakti Kendras. Each Kendra will target the electorate of five to six polling booths, with each booth representing 1,000 votes approximately.
The” Coffee with Youth” campaign is a first-of-its-kind initiative by the BJP specifically targeting urban youth. It could be a game changer not just for the BJP but also for the Bharatiya urban youth’s value system. The educated urban youth of our country has over the years become a soft target for woke leftist circles. Most cultural spaces of urban Bharat – literary clubs, cultural forums, art spaces, etc. are dominated by leftist ideologues. Thus, unfortunately, cultural spaces in Bharatiya cities have become powerful vehicles of leftist propaganda. These spaces attract mainly youth who are the prime target of these woke leftist circles. That is why you would see highly educated young people participating in all sorts of protests orchestrated by the leftist ecosystem. The anti-CAA protests, the tukde tukde gang of JNU, all these are a result of the woke toolkit targeting Bharatiya urban youth.
A political party like the BJP has mostly worked at the grassroots level, establishing a strong connection with various traditional voter bases. But for a long time, it was unsuccessful in catching the imagination of the urban youth of Bharat which explains why the educated youth from elite Bharatiya universities like the Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Ashoka University, etc. often end up espousing an anti-national viewpoint in the garb of being intellectual. Thus, the BJP is rightly rectifying this by focusing on the urban youth like artists, entrepreneurs, etc. through the new “Coffee with Youth” initiative.
The cultural spaces of urban Bharat are mediums of expression for the youth. It’s sad that these are hijacked by a shady nexus of anti-Bharat stakeholders from within the country and those from outside of Bharat. The young people go to these places with an open mind to attend talks and events, view painting exhibitions, participate in poetry readings, etc. Little do they know that the agenda is hijacked by vested interests and thus they are being shown only certain kinds of films, are being exposed only to speakers with a certain viewpoint and are being brainwashed into certain narratives through something as seemingly innocuous as a poetry reading. Thus, before the youth can realize, it’s already been brainwashed into a certain way of thinking. Thus, a lot needs to be done to clean up these cultural spaces and challenge the cultural hegemony of the left that has invaded these spaces.
Modi government has majorly focussed on the youth in all its policies and programmes. Skill India, Digital India, Make in India, Start-up India, Beti BACHAO Beti Padao, and Fit India Movement are some of the most noteworthy youth-centric initiatives of the government. BJP has indeed the right decision by launching urban-youth-centric campaigns for the upcoming elections. This could play a significant role in increaing the share of young voters within Bharat’s overall voter turnout percentage. If BJP comes to power at the centre again, the next focus should perhaps be on cleaning up cultural and civic spaces of urban Bharat and freeing these of ultra-leftist influence.
