Even the BJP’s detractors would admit that the governments under Mr Modi caused mega-infrastructure projects to materialise, preparing the platform for the youth to take off. Mr Modi could have presented them with a package which will appear as the government’s share of the bargain and asked them to present theirs. He could have laid out what he would be able to do for them, and then asked them to work hard for making them materialise. Instead, he asked them to dream big and work hard, something all motivation speakers with zero investment and resources do. Thus, he wasted his energy, and opportunity, citing those who have been in the Opposition for the last 12 years. — Internet

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s engagements of late have displayed a pattern in which he makes a conscious effort to charm Generation Z which has hit the streets against the policies and actions of the government he leads, and win them over. However, he appears to fall short in every attempt to complete the arduous task. His engagement with the students in a Delhi college was yet another missed opportunity.

Mr Modi was on the campus 13 years after he last visited. Between his last visit and the latest, a lot of water has flowed down the Yamuna and many things happened in the lives of millions of Indians, including Mr Modi’s. The former Gujarat chief minister won three back-to-back elections to the Lok Sabha, the first on the strength of his promise that good days are ahead for all Indians, and became Prime Minister on all three occasions. He was leading the BJP which claimed to be a party with difference and enjoyed an absolute majority in the lower house on the first two occasions, giving him immense leeway for walking the talk.

However, 13 years later, Mr Modi went back to the campus trumpeting about the GDP growth story which the government insists stupendous, but is taken with loads of salt by a section of economists. If that was the case, and the government is right, his detractors ask, then why doesn’t it create jobs? Their question reverberates with the Generation Z, for it touches their lives.

Mr Modi made no efforts to defend the GDP growth story except offering the standard line that the Opposition always indulges in negativity. When he insists that India is creating employment opportunities despite wars and disruptions, demonstrating the country's strength, he must attach convincing data; a snipe at “those responsible for pushing the economy into the fragile five (cannot digest it)” alone hardly works.

Even the BJP’s detractors would admit that the governments under Mr Modi caused mega-infrastructure projects to materialise, preparing the platform for the youth to take off. Mr Modi could have presented them with a package which will appear as the government’s share of the bargain and asked them to present theirs. He could have laid out what he would be able to do for them, and then asked them to work hard for making them materialise. Instead, he asked them to dream big and work hard, something all motivation speakers with zero investment and resources do. Thus, he wasted his energy, and opportunity, citing those who have been in the Opposition for the last 12 years.

Mr Modi may be wanting to portray himself as the OG (shorthand for ‘original gangster’), but it appears that he will have to do a lot of homework to make the Gen Z convinced that he has the credentials to be one. This irreverent generation puts substance over style, and it is tough to enter their good books with the same planning, strategy and tools using which he won over their parents. Innovation is not something that the young generation alone requires.

Tags: