Hi-tech Congress goes Wi-Fi

Their starched white khadi-kurtas have since long given way to an off-white silken attire. Laptops adorn tables of officials as freshly prepared films to be used during the campaign are given a last look before being released in public. And just in case one needed to log on to the Net, just click on for the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (RPCC), which has just gone Wi-Fi. That is the latest poll eve preparation by the Congress as the D-day for the Assembly polls draw near.

“One never knows when one would need to log on to the Net to get on to the AICC site or the Election Commission site. And that is why we decided to make the office Wi-Fi recently,’’ explains Mumtaz Masih, general secretary, RPCC. But that is just one of the various hi-tech methods the Congress plans to use this election either for addressing its party workers or the people.

Masih is an old hand at the computers. “As the president of the Congress Sewa Dal then, I was responsible for sending reports to Rajivji on projects in tribal areas. Besides, I have been a dealer of computers since long,” he explains as he puts in a compact disc in his laptop to view the latest film on the party’s campaign.

“The Congress would be using compact disc to a great extent. In fact we have prepared several documentaries highlighting our message for the masses. These CDs would be played in DVD players that would be mounted on our ‘raths’ (read a Tata pick-up vans). These DVD players would have detachable large screens and whenever the raths reach a rural destination the DVD player and the screen would be dismounted and played for the people,” he adds.

In fact, in their latest campaign film the state Congress has used puppets to highlight the “misrule of the Raje regime” and portray the “throes that the people have been plunged into.”

“We would be largely using traditional things and combining them with modern gadgets for campaigning this poll. In fact, the puppets have been purposely used to highlight the fact that the Raje governance has been a puppet rule,” says Masih. The Congress would be using a software to send bulk SMS to a 5,000-strong workforce all over the state for instructing them on what do and what not. “SMS is a cheap option and we are able to stay in touch better with our workforce,” he says. However, the Congress would not be using SMS to send messages to the general electorate as “it might backfire and people might take offence.”

And it is not just that but the Congress party has also identified one worker in every constituency who has an Internet connection so that after November 20 when the election fever is at its peak, the worker can send a daily report over the Net.