At a time when political parties are increasingly dependent on social media to propagate their ideas and set out their positions on key issues, the DMK has invited applications for the posts of Information Technology (IT) coordinators for districts and Assembly constituencies.
The announcement, published in the party organ Murasoli , made it clear that the candidate should have completed Plus Two, have knowledge of MS Word/Excel and be able to operate smartphones.
P.T.R. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, the secretary of the party’s IT wing, however, explained that IT was a much bigger turf, and that it would be simplistic to confine its scope to social media like Facebook and Twitter.
“IT covers the application of technology to improve institutional functions, providing knowledge on demand and at the point of use, and provides for data-enabled decision-making. For example, the weather department uses data collection and analysis for predicting a good or bad monsoon. Similarly, we are going to apply technology for politics,” said Dr. Rajan, a Chemical Engineer from NIT Trichy, who holds a Masters degree in Operations Research, a Ph.D. in Human Factors Engineering and an MBA in Finance from the Sloan School at MIT.
Thorough groundwork
Dr. Rajan, who had previously worked as a consultant to various industries, and later as an investment banker, said that IT would come in handy to assess, calculate and manage problems and risks.
When the DMK announced the creation of the IT wing three months ago, Dr. Rajan requested the party high-command to give him three months’ time to prepare a master plan of action.
“I thoroughly studied how IT was used by political parties across the globe and in India, and what we have in the DMK and what we lack. Subsequently, I submitted a detailed development plan to the party leadership,” he said.
Dr. Rajan, who was elected from the Madurai Central Constituency, has created a database of all voters there, and they can communicate with him through multiple channels.
“I have established a call centre which records the call of every voter who has approached my office in connection with any issue, and linked it with a CRM Solution. As I promised during the election, I’ve published two six-monthly self-assessment reports, explaining with full data evidence, what I have achieved and where I have not been able to make progress,” he said.
One of his goals for the IT wing is to replicate across the State for the DMK, what he had achieved in his constituency through IT.
“The wing we are going to fill out will be useful for all DMK MLAs and office-bearers in addressing the problems of voters in their constituencies and areas,” he said.
When questioned about the allegation that the DMK had timed the launch of its IT plans to take advantage of the dissent in the AIADMK’s IT wing, Dr. Rajan laughed it off, saying the DMK’s plans were initiated well before the current crisis in the AIADMK, and that he had not met or contacted even a single person from the AIADMK’s IT Wing so far.
“We are on a strategic, long-term path to strengthen the party,” he said. “And short-term conditions do not structurally alter our vision.”
