A set of youngsters in India are trying to get the former President of the United States of America, Barack Obama to come to Bengaluru as a keynote speaker for a youth summit. And the hashtag #ObamaForKeynote has started doing the rounds on social media.
The Under 25 club, a media and entertainment company based out of Bengaluru is resorting to creative methods to make sure that their request to invite Obama as the keynote speaker of their Under 25 Summit 2019 reaches the former President.
“Dear Obama, your lifelong goal has been to inspire, empower and connect with the people to change the world. You’re the bridge between generations and India needs that bridge. More importantly, the youth of India needs it,” Anto Philip, the co-founder of the Under 25 club can be seen saying in their video campaign called ‘Dear Obama’.
Under 25, in the words of their co-founder Anto Philip is, “A youth brand which is the voice of the creative youngsters, who believes that youth are the leaders of today and not of tomorrow.”
The Under 25 Summit - the largest youth festival in India, is the main flagship programme of the club, which has been held every year since 2014. The Summit, which has taken place in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad, has witnessed an increase in attendance with each passing year.
The Summit, scheduled to be held on February 2 and 3, 2019 is aiming to break all its previous records in terms of attendance by getting Barack Obama as the keynote speaker.
Speaking to TNM, Anto Philip says, “We believe that for a better future, the gap between generations is something that needs to be bridged right now. We also want youngsters to move to a positive change and start taking their own decisions and become leaders.”
“The best person to amplify this or even represent this message is none other than the former President of the USA, Barack Obama,” he adds.
Speaking about how the enthusiastic bunch at Under 25 is planning to get the attention of Obama, Anto says that all of them are working with a lot of creators and platforms within India and at the moment, the hashtag #ObamaForKeynote has started trending on social media. “We have also crossed around 1,000 direct messages to Obama on Twitter and instagram,” says an elated Anto.
Along with this, the Under 25 club has also begun a “Dear Obama” campaign, which is basically an open letter from youngsters across India to Barack Obama in the form of a video. The video, which includes messages from many of the top youth influencers in the country, explains the reasons as to why the youth of the country need Obama to come to India.
With the help of the video and the hashtag, Under 25 aims to get the attention of not just the youth of the country but the older generation as well.
“For a leader like him that has taken the responsibility and gone against all odds, he can definitely inspire change. This will also help our parents’ generation to understand that there is more to us than just partying and staying on the internet,” Anto tells TNM.
Anto adds, “The power of the vote is something that Obama can impart to the youth. We are the youngest and largest democracy in the world. I believe that if every youngster above the age of 18 goes out to vote, we can bring about significant change.”
Watch the video here: