New Delhi: Union railway minister Lalu Prasad joined the disgruntled, informed, stimulating, entertaining — and sometimes plain loquacious — world of bloggers in May this year. His first stint as a blogger lasted all of three months.
Prasad blogged on a range of issues — the Gujjar community’s agitation in Rajasthan, inflation, the Indo-US nuclear deal — but found that irrespective of his subject matter, the debate he sought to start would inevitably end up in complaints about the Indian Railways or the government.
Also ReadSaffron brigade’s newest recruits write code and surf Internet
“Dear Laluji, sadar pranam (salutations)!” read a comment on his post on the Gujjar agitation. “My husband Baba Sidhaye, (an) ex-western railway employee, is the first and only deaf and dumb by birth international cricketer in the world from India among 110 crore of Indian population. I would like to know: What your railway ministry has done to recognize his exemplary services to the nation and Indian Railways? I think that he is eligible for all the awards of government of India...”
On 25 July, Prasad wryly remarked, “I would like to thank all those who have posted their comments on my blog. It has come to my notice that most of the comments are related to the functioning of railways, where people have pointed out various deficiencies in the services. We are studying all the suggestions and will try to implement them.” He has not written since, though he may return to blogging later.
Prasad’s blog is a case in point about why Indian politicians and political parties are reluctant to tap the growing number of Indian Internet users to further their agenda. As of September 2007, India had 49 million Internet users, according to a study by the eTechnology Group of IMRB International, a South Asian market research firm.
Access to a politician lies at the root of this reluctance, says Sanjay Sharma, managing director of QuBitTechnologies Pvt. Ltd, which has been running the official website of Indian Olympic Association president and Congress politician Suresh Kalmadi (www.skalmadi.org), the unofficial website of minister of state for information technology and communications Jyotiraditya Scindia (www.jyotiraditya.com) and an unofficial Congress party website, www.congress4india.com.
“The problem comes up when there is a flood of small and big requests. When you open up access to a politician, this happens and it is difficult to manage. Politicians have a group of handlers who restrict access and act as filters,” Sharma says. “But when access is opened up, the equations get topsy-turvy and there is a fundamental conflict. The politician just wants to say things and find a way to filter access to him.”