In the rest of the country it is a popular film song, a patriotic hymn or maybe a tune from a favourite serial. But in Gujarat some cell phone users are using Chief Minister Narendra Modi's speech as a ring tone.
It is Modi's voice that is ringing in the ears of many mobile phone users in the state, after an engineering professor managed to convert a 12 second excerpt of a speech to a ring tone.
And the 12-second sound clip, in which Modi advises the opposition to work in unison for state's better future, has been passing from one cell phone user to another.
"We should rise above political calculations for sake of Gujarat's future. We should be concerned about tomorrow's Gujarat. We should be worried about development of Gujarat, rather than about political gains," the sonorous voice informs.
It all started in a lab at a Bhavnagar engineering college, 220 km from here, where a professor was experimenting with the new mobile technology.
"Nokia, the instrument maker, offers this new facility where you can download sound files of certain format and use them as ring tones," the innovator, requesting anonymity, told IANS over phone.
"I was experimenting with the new facility. Browsing through the chief minister's official website, I came across his speech and produced its ring tone version using a multimedia converter software," he added.
He sent the ring tone file to a friend Hitesh Pandya, who is with the chief minister's office (CMO).
It was easy after that.
"I uploaded the chief minister's speech. Within no time, I was receiving 1,000 calls a day. When I'd answer, the caller would tell me that the call was made to only to hear the chief minister's words," said Pandya.
Pandya passed the sound file around and he soon started receiving requests from Mumbai. However, only certain handsets with multimedia messaging system (MMS) are compatible with the software.
Of course, the 'Modi ring tone' is especially popular among his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists.
"In the speech, the chief minister talks about putting our heads together, irrespective of party differences, for a better Gujarat. It is inspiring," said Jignesh Shah, a BJP worker.
Bhavesh Kordiya, an industrialist friend of Pandya, also found many takers for the ring tone.
"I found this message very important. I don't mind passing it to even strangers who approach me with request when they overhear my ring tone in public places," Kordiya told IANS.
That probably rings hollow for all rights activists who have been campaigning against Modi.
--Indo-Asian News Service