Nitin Nabin says drive, not age, defines youth; urges Goa's young to become job creators
At a Panaji youth event, the BJP chief argued that ambition, not birth year, should decide who counts as young, and he pressed Goa's youth to build enterprises rather than wait for jobs.
BJP national president Nitin Nabin said on Wednesday that India does not need generational labels such as Gen Z or Gen Alpha to understand its young people. In his view, anyone who keeps working hard and persevering to bring about change should be treated as young, whatever their age.
Speaking at the party's 'Yuva Samvad' event in Panaji, Nabin said age should not be the yardstick. He argued that a person stays young for as long as they keep the urge to push forward and improve their own life, their state and the country, whether they are 15 or 45.
The remarks land at a sensitive moment. Youth-led protests have been spreading across the country, and the Opposition Congress has stepped up its own outreach to young voters. The BJP says its youth wing continues to hold direct conversations with young people, and Wednesday's closed-door session was part of that effort.
Nabin told more than 300 participants from fields such as start-ups, artificial intelligence, robotics, arts, culture and sports to aim for job creation rather than job-seeking. He also highlighted safety and security as among Goa's strongest assets.
According to Tushar Kelkar, president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Nabin pledged to brief Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Goa's start-up ecosystem and to hold a 'chai pe charcha' with young people on the subject. Kelkar said participants came away encouraged and appreciated the state government's efforts, and that Nabin urged them to make use of central and state government schemes.
The visit was also a political working trip. On Tuesday, Nabin addressed the state executive meeting, chaired a gathering of Goa's BJP MPs, ministers and MLAs, and led a core committee review of preparations for the upcoming Assembly elections, booth-level work and outreach plans for the months ahead. Taken together, the youth pitch and the election groundwork show the party trying to connect its growth message with the voters who will decide the next government.
For readers, the takeaway is that the debate has shifted from who counts as young to what young people are doing with their energy. Whether a promised conversation with the Prime Minister turns into concrete policy for Goa's start-up sector will be the test. The full report is available at Navhind Times.