Votes of youth will be bedrock of New India: PM

PM Modi said such 'mock Parliaments' should be organised in every district before the proposed event in August in Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged the youth who turn 18 on Monday to register as electors and said their votes would prove to be the bedrock of New India.
 

In his last Mann Ki Baat address of the year, he suggested a ‘mock Parliament’ be organised around August 15 in Delhi, comprising young representatives selected from every district to deliberate on how a New India could be formed in the next five years.

He said such ‘mock Parliaments’ should be organised in every district before the proposed event in August in the national Capital. In the new year, he said people should take concrete steps to make a “progressive India” and recounted an inspirational story of Anjum Bashir Khan Khattak, topper of the Kashmir Administrative Service examination.
 

“He extricated himself from the sting of terrorism and hatred, and topped in the examination. You will be surprised to know terrorists had set his ancestral home on fire in 1990,” Modi said.

He said terrorism and violence were so widespread there that his family had to leave their ancestral land and flee.

For a young child, such an atmosphere of violence could easily create darkness and bitterness in heart, but Anjum did not let it be so and he never gave up hope. He chose a different path, a path of serving the people, he said.

He also recalled his meeting with young girls from the state and said he was amazed at the spirit they had and the enthusiasm in their hearts and the dreams they nurtured. “The Indian democracy welcomes the voters of the 21st century, the ‘New India voters’. I congratulate our youth and urge them to register themselves as voters.”