By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) gambit to cyber-connect with supporters ahead of the general elections seems to be working, with 1,360 volunteers from all over the country signing online to join prime minister hopeful L.K. Advani’s campaign.
The strategy deployed for the first time by a major political party in India started after the launch of Advani’s website www.lkadvani.in on his 81st birthday Nov 8. Since then, the website has attracted nearly 200,000 hits and 500,000 page views. It has 2,100 registered members.
From the National Capital Region (NCR), covering Delhi and its suburbs, 197 people have registered as online volunteers. Advani’s office wasted no time in calling a meeting of the volunteers on Makar Sankranti Jan 14 — the meeting, which was scheduled for two hours, continued for four hours.
“More than 50 people attended the meeting and it was a huge success,” Sudheendra Kulkarni, who has put together Advani’s website, told IANS.
Barring three people, all those who attended were between the ages of 20 to 35. There were three women in the group and the party hopes more will attend in the next meeting.
Those who interacted with the participants from the BJP included Kulkarni and national convenor of the party’s IT cell Pradyut Bora.
“All of them were from diverse professional and educational backgrounds. A Meerut based electrician, a manager who handles a private equity fund of several billions, IT professionals and advertising executives came,” said Kulkarni.
There were young lawyers practicing in the Supreme Court also. Many are professional bloggers, already spreading the message of the BJP in cyberspace, he added.
“All of them connected via Advaniji’s website and that is what truly marked the importance of the meeting. Never before in the history of Indian democracy have citizens been activated and recruited through the Internet like this,” he said.
The participants suggested different ways to join the campaign and explained what they could contribute.
One participant was of the view that the BJP should reach out to all sections of India’s diverse society.
The volunteers were asked to share their views on the country’s political situation, what prompted them to get politically active and what they expect from a BJP government.
The volunteers zeroed in on five broad areas of engagement. Some decided to contribute in creation and dissemination of content, both online and offline.
Some agreed to assist in the website design, maintenance and compilation of databases, some for policy research to contribute ideas and suggestions for party’s agenda of governance.
For several, the focus was on field-level mobilization of voters, especially uncommitted voters, through multiple methods of campaign.
They also decided to popularise Advani’s message to youth, ‘Ek Kaam Desh Ke Naam’ (one work for the nation).
“By the next gathering, we expect around 500 volunteers from Delhi alone. This model will now be replicated in other parts of the country also.”