Sleepless nights over laptop politics
Ramu was spending sleepless nights wondering about a phenomenon he could not understand. Politicians were everywhere but on the streets with their people. Some were flying on the wings of a blue bird called Twitter; some of them hadn’t quite shown their faces for a public cause but surely booked their presence on Facebook and still others were on what seems to be the only mode of communications a wise man understood. WhatsApp
All of the above are playgrounds of politicians young and old. Social media followers are more precious than voters.
To understand the phenomenon Ramu went to meet his trusted guru P Chintamani after forewarning him of his predicament (these things cannot be discussed on the phone). Chintamani had already taken some advice from his super guru Swami Chidam Baram.
Armed with all the info Chintamani told Ramu, “Look Ramu this is called laptop politics or smartphone politics. If politicians don’t master it, they are lost to the voters as much as they are lost to their children.
Unlike your forefathers, the local politicians are never found at the tea shop, the cafeteria, or on the streets with the people. They sit with their legs crossed on their sofa or on the lap of someone else and do laptop politics.”
Ramu pondered and asked: “But I’ve also seen ordinary people posting in favor of politicians.”
“Arre Ramu”, Chintamani quipped, “They are not ordinary, they are extraordinary. For instance, even RTI activists do PR for politicians and send press notes routing for them.”
Chintamani was not finished. He said, “There’s one more thing Ramu. The most number of WhatsApp messages, Facebook posts. Emails are sent by “ex or former position holders in parties. They are all ‘former’ and are desperate to be in the limelight commenting on each and every issue like an expert.”
“I see”, nodded Ramu, “It’s high time the state opens a college of Laptop politics. That’s the way forward.”
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