TO connect with the new generation ahead of the Assembly elections, the official website of CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan was launched. The site – www.pinarayivijayan.in -- was inaugurated by Infosys co-founder and former CEO S D Shibulal at a function in Thiruvananthapuram on April 4. Speaking at the event, Vijayan said the people were amazed to see the Communists using modern technology while others just stood and criticised. “It has been our tradition to use various mediums-- from magazines to visual media in the past - to connect with the Malayali diaspora and to learn their points of view. Realising the shift in technology, we simply have adopted its newer counterpart," he said, adding that the biggest technological agglomeration the state has seen, the Technopark, was conceptualised by an LDF government, led by E K Nayanar.

Staying away from the new media means we cannot reach out to a larger section of the society.  He said Keralites outside the country are using the new media. They have their own dreams about the state. They have a clear vision about the state. So this medium would be used to interact with them also. In addition, the website will reflect on the state’s issues and the solutions suggested by the LDF for the same. 

Addressing the gathering, Shibulal said, “What makes social media unique is that it is technology without barriers. Being a person who has lived around technology all my life, I have great pleasure watching how our political leaders are adapting newer technologies.”

Earlier, CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Vijayan and V S Achuthanandan launched a ‘Missed Call’ campaign for the May 16 Assembly polls. Under the campaign, anybody can give a missed call an assigned mobile number. In return, the callers will get a recorded message of Vijayan, Balakrishnan and Achuthanandan. Achuthanandan, in his over 30-second message, focuses on corruption under the UDF rule, while Vijayan appeals to the people to vote for LDF for “responsible government and development”.