Not blinded by the war smokescreen

Kargil became an issue in Mahendragarh the moment the BJP nominated BSF Deputy Commandant Sukhbir Singh Yadav's widow, Dr Sudha Yadav. Bu...

Kargil became an issue in Mahendragarh the moment the BJP nominated BSF Deputy Commandant Sukhbir Singh Yadav8217;s widow, Dr Sudha Yadav. But it8217;s actually the chicken-and-egg syndrome. The districts of Mahendragarh, Rewari and Gurgaon, which constitute this parliamentary constituency, had 18 casualties in the Kargil conflict. As in the rest of the country, the region witnessed emotional scenes when the bodies of the soldiers were brought back to the villages. The region has a large number of service personnel and ex-servicemen who are bound to influence public opinion.

Obviously for the BJP Kargil is the most important issue here and the poster of its candidate has the late Deputy Commandant in the background which could invite the wrath of the Election Commission. Party MLA Ram Bilas Sharma equates the martyrs8217; sacrifices with a vote for Sudha Yadav: 8220;Yeh apmaan hoga shaeedon ka agar Sudhaji haar gayee. Kitne hi hamare bhaiyon ne kurbani di hai. Agar aap chahate hain ki unka yeh balidaan safal ho jaye toSudhaji ko hi vote dejeeye.8221; It will be an insult to the martyrs if Sudha were to lose the elections. So many of our brothers have sacrificed their lives. If you want those sacrifices to be of any worth, vote for Sudha.

The Congress leaders are following the high command8217;s line in blunting the BJP8217;s arguments. Congress candidate Rao Inderjit Singh says at a public meeting at Begpur village in Ateli segment: 8220;A martyr does not belong to one community or village. He belongs to the nation. Just because the BJP has fielded the widow of a martyr, it does not mean that you vote for the BJP. It was this BJP that could not push out intruders from Kargil for three months. It was due to their negligence and inefficiency that we lost 500 men and thousands were handicapped.8221;

There is hyperbole and fiction in this poll rhetoric 8220;Kargil is a victory for our soldiers,8221; says Congress legislator from Ateli, Rao Narender Singh, at a rally. 8220;Jab yeh jawan Bofors top chalaate the to ek hi naara lagate the 8211;Rajiv Gandhi zindabad, Bharat mata ki jai When our soldiers fired Bofors guns, they shouted slogans in praise of Rajiv Gandhi and the country.8221;

But the voters are not taking anything at face value. Says Captain Retd Shambhu Dayal of Seehma village: 8220;Vajpayee has brought a bad name to the country and is now asking for votes. For over two months we were fighting the Pakistanis on our land. It is shameful. I was there in the 1965 and 1971 wars and the way we made one lakh Pakistani troops surrender in Bangladesh, it was a matter of great pride for us. The Kargil issue is going to backfire on the BJP.8221;

An apparently non-partisan retired IAF officer Air Commodore Amrit Lal Saigal observes: 8220;Politics means exploitation. Remember when Indira Gandhi was assassinated how the Congress played it up. What qualification did Rajiv Gandhi have when he rode on that wave and became Prime Minister. No doubt the Kargil issue is very relevant here because entire Haryana has produced thousands of soldiers who havegiven their lives for the country. But if I have to vote for Sudha Yadav, it will not be because I am swayed by the Kargil issue. It will be a vote against a professional politician who takes all the credit when things go right but is not ready to take blame when things go wrong. My vote will be for a clean image.8221;

Sitting at a tea stall outside a school in Rewasa village where the BJP candidate is addressing a gathering, elderly villager Rati Ram says the BJP is playing up the issue in order to get votes. 8220;These are just political gimmicks. Hamne apne bachhe khoye hai Kargil mein, in leaderon ne nahin We are the ones who lost our children in Kargil, not these leaders. Why don8217;t they talk about our problems relating to power and water supply? They are just using that poor woman. Dekh lena, elections ke baad koi use puchega bhi nahin You will seem that after the elections, no one will pay any attention to her.8221;

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Maan Singh from the same village is quite bitter. 8220;There was anotherKargil here two years ago,8221; he says referring to the police firing on protesting farmers at Satnali. 8220;Where were they when innocent farmers were being brutally killed? They were protesting because damaged electricity transformers in their villages had not been changed for months. Why have they forgotten that? You8217;ll see that nobody will talk about the martyrs after the elections are over. It8217;s just a ploy of the power-hungry politicians.8221;

The urban voter too is wary of the hype. 8220;There is no bravery in it if you throw a burglar out of your house,8221; says prominent Gurgaon lawyer Bhoop Singh Yadav. 8220;In fact, it was a negligent act on their part to let Pakistani intruders get inside our territory. And they had to rectify their mistake. It is no victory. Voters are sensible enough nowadays to sense the motives behind the issue. People will vote for the BJP candidate because she is one of them and highly qualified. But the bait of Kargil won8217;t work. Atal Behari Vajpayee is trying to portray himself as thehero of the Kargil conflict.8221;

Even the Congress criticism has backfired. 8220;Sonia Gandhi is asking for the maps of Kargil, highlighting intelligence failure and accusing the BJP. If she is so concerned ask her to send her son Rahul to the Army,8221; says a Rewari taxi driver, Karam Singh. 8220;Vajpayee has shown great skill in handling this situation. He showed restraint by not crossing the LoC thus gaining international support and isolating Pakistan.8221;