The extraordinary events of the last three months have changed the way young people are perceived, said India Today Group Chairman and Editor in Chief Aroon Purie during his welcome address at Mind Rocks India Today Youth Summit 2011 on Saturday at the Le Meridien Hotel here. (Watch: Aroon Purie's welcome address)
"They, we were told, was the I-Me-Myself generation. I see now that they may have become the We generation. We were told modern communication tools like email, SMS or Facebook would divide people. They ended up uniting your generation across cities, classes and communities. We were told globalisation would make our youth too westernised. The tricolour has instead become your favourite accessory," he said.
"We were told young people were not interested in politics. But, one by one, as you converged on Ramlila Maidan in Delhi or Azad Maidan in Mumbai or Freedom Park in Bangalore, with candles, slogans, and change in your hearts, you proved us and them wrong. Like a generation before you did in 1974, you were asking for accountability. The students' revolution of 1974 threw up many of our present-day political stalwarts, from Lalu Prasad Yadav to Sushil Modi," Purie added.
"Two-thirds of India is under 35 - like most of you sitting in this hall. The numbers are huge. 459 million Indians are between 13 and 35. Of these, 333 million are literate. Till now, you were seen as a market. This year you proved, as you rallied behind a 74-year-old man from a hitherto obscure village in Maharashtra, that you were a democracy," he said.
Purie added that as a 200-million strong voting force of 18-35 year olds in the 2009 elections, youngsters were always seen as a swing factor. "This time you proved the swing could well be a tsunami. All of you realise how you can change the rules of the game. You have every opportunity to change it further," he said.
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