Coinciding with its 56 formation day, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) is making a shift in the way it is functioning. The party has decided to embrace technology to the hilt. Majlis president Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday launched a new mobile app. Keeping track of the party and its programmes is now just a click away.
The App available on iOS (Apple), Android and Windows platforms enables one to see and listen to Mr. Owaisi on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. With this the Majlis leader becomes the third Indian politician to have a separate app apart from the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, it is said.
“No political party can ignore the reach of social media especially in urban areas. One can do so at ones own peril”, says Mr. Owaisi.
Syed Abdahu Quadri, a B.Tech student, who developed the App, says one can listen to Mr. Owaisi’s speeches, Parliament debates, talk shows on various channels, find out coming events and learn the party’s history. “Even before the App is launched it is given a 5 star rating by followers”, he says.
The Majlis is going tech savvy with an eye on the 2019 elections.
By then the Internet rates are expected to fall drastically and smart phones become cheaper. The party wants to be ready to reach out to the technocrat voters, particularly the youth. Hyderabad parliamentary constituency has more than four lakh Facebook users.
“Social media is going to be a powerful tool which one can’t ignore”, says Mr. Owaisi who has more than a lakh followers on the Facebook.
This apart, the Majlis office at Darussalam sports a new look on the eve of its formation day anniversary. A new floor has been added and a huge conference hall is being readied. The hitherto drab rooms on the ground floor now wear a dapper look with plush furnishings.
But Mr. Owaisi shies away from the corporate aura and prefers to function from the congested cubicle from where his father, the late Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, used to operate.
“Faqeeri main badshahi hai” (there is prestige in austerity), he quips.
