Date:29/12/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/12/29/stories/2005122906841200.htm

National

Mahajan keeps it simple, high-tech

Neena Vyas

All-out attempt to please RSS ideologues

Tented township for the delegates
Senior leaders put up in modest hotel

Computers, broadband connectivity for the media

MUMBAI: Organising the logistics for several thousand delegates attending the Bharatiya Janata Party's national council session here would not have been an easy task. But to the credit of the party's Maharashtra unit that hosted the three-day event, the arrangements were perfect.

The "mantra" enunciated by BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan was simplicity with high technology. Simplicity, because the BJP was trying to meet the expectations of its ideologues in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, who frown upon "five-star culture."

The delegates were accommodated in a tented township in the Bandra reclamation area here. Senior leaders, including president L.K. Advani and the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, were put up in a modest hotel, Rang Sharda, adjoining the venue of the council session.

Simple food

Taking the "simplicity point" further, the delegates were served "simple" meals of `dal', `roti', rice and vegetables. No curds, no sweets. But when it came to the media, the tech-savvy Mr. Mahajan would have nothing but the best: a hundred computers with broadband connectivity, wireless routers covering a radius of 50 metres, 50 laptops also with wireless Internet connectivity, scanners, fax machines and battery chargers for cell phones. In the large tented hall, where the main sessions were held, computers were provided to all journalists to facilitate them to file their stories even as the session took place.

Two films produced

Also, two films were produced to mark the session. The opening film on Wednesday was one documenting the very first session of the BJP held at the same venue in 1980. The next film, to be screened on Friday, will be about the party's rise over 25 years.

On Wednesday, the delegates were treated to a Hindi version of the Marathi play, Jaante Raje, by Babasaheb Purandhare, based on Shivaji's life. Elephants and horses were brought on to the stage to lend grandeur. The expulsion of MPs caught in the cash-for-questions scandal, the circumstances surrounding the resignation of general secretary Sanjay Joshi, and the exit of Mr. Advani from his post notwithstanding, the BJP cannot be faulted for wanting to celebrate its silver jubilee in style.