With the BJP caught in an unending internecine war, senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi is charting his own course, planning a ?nation-building conclave? of his followers, many of whom he met on the Internet.
After a website he launched during General Elections (drmurlimanoharjoshi.in) failed to take off, Joshi has been extremely active on Facebook, discussing themes ranging from ?austerity? to ?Bharat ka Swarnim Itihas?.
Two of his recent messages, for instance, read: ?Till date only 217 amongst you have sent their contact addresses and details… All of you will be sent a brief note on what we are planning for the nation-building conclave. Your suggestions shall be embedded to make it a successful target-oriented model.?
With senior leader L K Advani?s website having become more of a discussion board for its followers; Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi?s posts on his blog few and far between (his website, though, is sleek and user-friendly); and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan having stopped blogging altogether, Joshi posts up to two messages in a day.
Joshi attempts to play down his cyber-activism, though. ?There is nothing unusual about my presence on Facebook, or my website, as this is the medium to connect with a generation that is net-savvy,? he said. Joshi answers many of the queries posed to him on Facebook. But there are some questions which, predictably, go unanswered.
Joshi, for instance, chose not to answer the poser by one Atul K Mehta ?Viduur?: ?In which chintan baithak will you discuss a proposal to liberate the BJP from the slavery of the RSS??