Uniform caught in BJP-Cong crossfire

The BJP, which won all the four seats here last time but is now facing flak for its unkept 90-day deadline on a separate state, has been quick to latch on to the war high. Its Kargil campaignstarts with its choice of candidate for the Pauri-Garhwal seat, Major General retd Bhuvan Chand Khanduri retd. The war and the victory 8220;achieved8221; by the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government are the ex-serviceman8217;s major poll planks. He claims that honour and dignity of soldiers has been the 8220;first priority8221; of the BJP regime.

8220;It was for the first time that bodies of martyrs reached their homes and their family members were honoured and taken care of,8221; Khanduri reminds voters.

The BJP has also roped in family members of Kargil martyrs. It got the mother of the late Major Rajesh Adhikari to appeal to the people from the party dais in Nainital to vote for the BJP. The RSS and its affiliated organisations, like the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, have organised rallies and seminars on Kargil and related security matters to build public opinion in favour of the BJP.

Besides this, the election material of the party includes a huge cutout of the Agni missile and a calendar in which Khanduri, dressedin Army uniform, poses below a photograph of Vajpayee saluting jawans on the Kargil battle-field. Party cadre are also distributing a booklet published by the Lucknow-based RSS outift Vishwa Samvad Kendra, entitled Kargil Apradhi Kaun Who8217;s to blame for Kargil. It gives a history of the Jammu and Kashmir problem, Indo-Pak wars and Indo-China conflict and puts the entire blame on the policies adopted by successive Congress governments at the Centre. The foreword of the booklet is written by veteran RSS leader K. Sudershan.

The Congress, which has pressed into service specially prepared vehicles depicting cutouts of Army jawans, has raised objection to the Vajpayee-Khanduri calendar. The party candidate against Khanduri, Satpal Maharaj a former Union minister of state for railways has complained to the Election Commission EC. BJP leaders, however, claim that Khanduri had taken the EC8217;s permission for the picture showing him in his Army uniform.

The Congress also accuses the Vajpayee Government ofoverall failure on the Kargil front. While it praises the sacrifices made by the 8220;valiant8221; jawans and officers, it lambasts the BJP for trying to project the Kargil victory as its great achievement.

The other parties are not far behind. The all-India vice-president of the Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, Suryakant Dhasmana, is spearheading the campaign of the Samajwadi Party8217;s SP Tehri-Garhwal nominee, Munna Singh Chauhan. In his election speeches. Dhasmana claims that the decision to honour martyrs of Jammu and Kashmir had, in fact, been taken by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav while he was the Union defence minister. 8220;It was Mulayam Singh Yadav who personally visited the families of martyrs and decided to send the bodies of slain soldiers to their families,8221; he says.

While the effect on the voting pattern is yet to be seen, the Kargil overkill has already claimed one casualty: the unity among ex-servicemen. While Vichar Manch, a body of former Armymen, has decided to support the BJP, those like Lt Genretd Madan Mohan Lakhera feel the party has destroyed service decorum and rules by using even uniform for political purposes. Lakhera also feels that it was government neglect that led to Kargil.

The views of the Vichar Manch are in sharp contrast. At a meeting chaired by Lt Gen retd D.S.R. Sahni, a former Army commander said the BJP was the only party which had given due importance to security issues and taken care of ex-servicemen. Besides itself.