Shivraj Singh Chouhan said Narendra Modi introduced an email-based communication culture within the Bharatiya Janata Party to modernize its internal operations [1, 2].

This shift reflects the party's long-term transition toward digital governance and organizational efficiency, mirroring the broader technological push seen in India's public administration. By institutionalizing digital communication, the party aimed to reduce bureaucratic delays, and improve connectivity among its leadership.

Chouhan said these experiences during a book-launch event in New Delhi [2]. He described a period between 2000 and 2014, prior to Modi's tenure as Prime Minister, when Modi served as the party in charge [1, 2]. According to Chouhan, this period marked a fundamental change in how the party handled election preparations and administrative tasks.

"Senior leaders like Narendra Modi had come as the party in charge. I was then the General Secretary of the state unit. A meeting was held regarding election preparations. Narendra Bhai asked, ‘Tell…’" Chouhan said [1].

Chouhan said that the adoption of email was not merely a technical change but a strategic effort to ensure that party work remained streamlined. He said that Modi always emphasized the use of email to keep everyone connected and to bring work practices in line with modern technology [2].

This move toward digitization occurred as the party expanded its reach across India. The use of digital tools allowed for faster dissemination of directives from the central leadership to state units, reducing the reliance on slower, traditional communication methods, a move that Chouhan suggests laid the groundwork for the party's current operational scale [1, 2].

“Modi always emphasized the use of email to streamline party work and keep everyone connected.”

The integration of digital communication tools into the BJP's organizational structure suggests that the party's current emphasis on 'Digital India' is rooted in its own internal management history. By adopting email and digital workflows long before they became ubiquitous in Indian politics, the party built a scalable infrastructure that allowed for tighter centralized control and more efficient coordination across diverse state units.