The embassy reverted with the Japanese translation, after which a translator appointed by the external affairs ministry was asked to verify the tweet.
Vasudha Venugopal, ET Bureau | 3 Sep, 2014, 06.36AM
Joshi, 44, who has been managing Modi's blogs, websites, and Twitter and FB accounts, accomplished the task of sending out eight impactful tweets with help from the Indian embassy in Japan and a translation tool. While a section of sceptics termed the exercise 'twiplomacy' and others wondered just when the PM learnt Japanese, all that brouhaha was nothing new for Joshi.
After all, he has had a role in almost every tweet that has gone out in Modi's name. The PMO sent a script of the intended tweets in English to the Indian embassy in Tokyo last Tuesday, asking for translation of the Japanese greetings that Modi wished to send out to his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe and the people of Japan, officials told ET.
The embassy reverted with the Japanese translation, after which a translator appointed by the external affairs ministry was asked to verify the translated tweet. The messages were embedded in a third-party language translator software equipped with Japanese fonts and words related to social conventions, before being posted. The software is being used to translate Modi's tweets in other languages, an official said.
The tweets came out from Modi's personal account, not PMO's, making it clear that the messages were posted under Joshi's supervision. Joshi could not be reached for comment.
An electronics engineer from Pune with a PhD from the Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management, Gwalior, Joshi was an assistant professor at the Manikya Lal Verma Textile and Engineering College, Bhilwara, and had over 18 years of teaching experience before he was hand-picked by Modi to handle his digital presence in 2008.
Officials in Gujarat, where Modi was CM before becoming PM, recall: "The Gujarat government had organised an event for engineers. A technical glitch developed during the event when Modi was also present. Joshi resolved the situation in a few minutes. And Modi was impressed."
While in Gujarat as Modi's OSD, he would use a special software that produced analytical charts mapping Modi's time spent, avoiding duplicate meetings, ensuring follow-ups and short-listing visitors to be added to the CM's itinerary. He ensured that tweets were translated in various languages when, in August last year, Modi launched his twitter accounts in Urdu, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil and Bengali.
Joshi made narendramodi.in available in Sanskrit and Hindi too. Recent meetings with officials at Twitter, which has been given direct access to ministers and officials in embassies to advise them on social media usage, were conducted under Joshi's supervision. He gives PM a daily report on online activities at 11.30 pm, besides shortlisting 100 of the thousands of messages marked to Modi on his social media accounts.
He also keeps an eye on the birthdays or deaths of important people to ensure appropriate messages are sent from the PM. He is assisted by a research team across the country. "Getting the most suitable people to write posts and getting them cleared by Modi is also Joshi's job," said an official. Joshi's papers on analytical tools and new configurations in mobile architecture presented at national meets are still available online.
"His most challenging day was the swearing in when the PMO website was supposed to go live seconds after Modi's swearing-in. He was updating all accounts and getting them prepared for the launch, with a sense of calm," said a person, who has worked with Joshi at the PMO.
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