Video telephony, SMS network, BJP has it all

THE BJP aims to be among the most high-tech political parties in the next two years.

Video-telephony, extensive SMS-based network and a separate telecom exchange are on the cards at the BJP headquarters. The high-tech system, BTEX, will be to stay in touch with the state leaders and cadres.

To start with, the party will install video-telephony that would enable, say, BJP president Rajnath Singh pick up his phone to talk to BJP chief ministers and the state chiefs. A videophone is a telephone capable of both audio and video transmission. It differs from videoconferencing in that it expects to serve individuals, not groups.

Unlike Skype that needs a PC to operate, a BJP leader will have to just switch on the videophone, that costs Rs 14,500 (unlike the PC that costs Rs 30,000).

Similarly, an extensive SMS-based communications network will be in place soon for registered members of the party across their district and state offices in the country. All party workers can be reached at a single go.

"The BJP is all geared up to explore and experiment innovative technology in telecommunication," says Prodyut Bora, national convenor of BJP's IT Cell.

"Since most politicians are not IT savvy," Bora says, "the idea is to have a system that is easy to operate".

As for the costs, Bora declined to give a figure but said all the software applications deployed by the BJP would be open source. Having done that, the party would be able to cut down costs by about 80 to 90 per cent.