Short and Sweet

That the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has used such a capitalist tool as the short messaging service (SMS) to sound out its arch tormentor in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee , is welcome news. So far politicians have taken to tweeting as a medium of instant opinion, albeit with mixed success. The move to actually initiate policy and strategy issues on SMS marks a significant leap forward. Given the cross connections and miscommunications that have dogged political discourse in that state and the parlous condition of the national postal and landbased telecommunications services in general, the instant ‘message delivered’ notice that the average cellphone service comes loaded with, is a boon.

No excuse can be made of messengers going astray with their precious billets or letters landing on the wrong desk. Best of all, if the otherwise spartanly attired and frugal D i d ihas invested in a certain cellphone that has a proprietary (and so far impenetrable) messaging service, such communications with her rivals can also remain totally confidential — as long as either party so desires, naturally. That also means that the source of any future ‘leaks’ of such communications can also be identified , without resorting to unseemly court battles. It is hoped that many more shakers and movers of governments will be converted to this speedy mode of interaction. More so because by its very nature, the SMS also imbues all exchanges with a quality rarely found in political discourse: brevity . Given the tedium of tapping out words on minuscule keyboards — even if executed by flunkies — the chances are that the interactions will be succinct and words kept to the bare minimum . And best of all, thanks to India’s cheap telecom rates, governments have the potential to make huge savings, too.