Kargil campaigns

Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, along with their respective allies, have expressed the pious desire that Kargil should ...

Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, along with their respective allies, have expressed the pious desire that Kargil should not be politicised. Yet both formations are guilty of doing just that. Indeed, it cannot but be an election issue, now that it has been dragged into every speech and campaign. But there is a line which must never be breached 8212; and that is the line that separates the political arena from the military one.

The armed forces of this country must not be dragged into the electoral fray, its soldiers should not be treated as unannounced allies by either side, as pawns in a political game. It is a pity that this point has to be made at all, even more so that it has to be made in the context of an campaign rally addressed by the Prime Minister. The photograph of Atal Behari Vajpayee on the dais, with the backdrop prominently featuring the three service chiefs flashing V8217; signs, is not really a picture of official responsibility at the highest level. While Vajpayee has repeatedlybeen stressing that the credit for the Kargil victory must go to the Army, his party has been less circumspect. It8217;s one thing for the BJP to seek the voter8217;s approval for its handling of the Kargil operations as the ruling party. It8217;s quite another to make out that the service chiefs are its personal canvassers. This amounts to seeking votes in the Army8217;s name and is incompatible with the spirit and structure of the polity.

The BJP and its leadership must keep away from this kind of politics, especially in view of the post-Kargil postures and activities of members of the Sangh Parivar that have brought no glory to the government. For instance, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad8217;s sudden, well-publicised concern for the recuperating Kargil soldiers, weeks after they were wounded, smacks of a cynical exploitation of sentiment. The Election Commission8217;s directive to the Defence Ministry against a poll-eve release of a documentary on the Kargil conflict should serve to bring home to the BJP the damage this line ofcampaigning can do to its image. Its angry reaction to the directive, however, shows a reluctance to draw its lesson, one that should have been learnt after the controversy over the Army briefing a party forum.

This does not, of course, absolve the other side of offences against the norms of electoral conduct in this regard. The Congress, in its anxiety to indict the government for an intelligence failure that allegedly allowed intrusions into the Kargil sector, has made criticism of the armed forces an implied part of its election campaign even while praising its courage. The party has also exceeded limits of propriety in this matter by defending the EC8217;s directive on the Kargil film and by blatantly describing it as an attempt to 8220;destroy the character of the armed forces8221;. A piece of advice then to the campaigners on both sides: keep off the Army. Fight your battles without trying to draft them. They have a difficult task as it is in ensuring the defence of the nation. Besides, democracy requires,indeed demands, that the Army be kept above petty politics.