For the love of Nehru and Mahatma in BJP

"The 120-day long yatra is an effort to understand the real issues of the people of the country," Bora told MiD DAY. Interestingly, he invoked Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi rather than the usual Sangh parivar icons to explain the motives of his yatra.

"The yatra is part of my education. It has nothing to do with BJP. I want to interact with the people and understand their issues," said Bora, who led a feverish BJP campaign on the Internet during general elections.

Bora clarified that there should be no confusion regarding the references to Nehru and Gandhi. "I have a life outside BJP too. I like Nehru's viewpoint on various matters and appreciate Mahatma Gandhi's vision for the growth of the country."

The Yatra will will pass through Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. "It's a completely non-political exercise and that's why I have chosen a long stretch in southern India where the BJP does not have much presence. We have chosen the shortest stretch between Kanyakumari and Delhi and there would be 10-20 regular people who will cover the entire stretch," he elaborated.

The Yatra will be carried under the aegis of newly formed Prodyut Bora Foundation. Explaining why he did not name his foundation on some big politician, Bora said: "Why would I name it on some other big political leader when this idea was conceived by me and with total honesty? Do I need to base everything on BJP?"

He also categorically denied that the Yatra could be in any way beneficial to the BJP. "I don't know what benefits could accrue to BJP and the IT cell. This is entirely about my education and me. There could be people from BJP in the Yatra just like the way there would be journalists, professors, doctors and people from every other walk of life," he said.

Man behind Yatra
Prodyut Bora was the man behind launching the LK Advani website ahead of the general elections in November and Advani's blog in January. As head of the Information Technology (IT) cell of the BJP, Bora was entrusted with the responsibility of automating and networking the party's 550 district offices, attracting IT professionals to the party, and advise party leaders on policy issues. Bora hopes to achieve a system of virtual faxes, online documentation, Internet telephony, voicemail received over email, and unique member identification numbers for the party cadre.

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