India today is a victorious nation led by a
visionary leader and statesman, Mr. Vajpayee. His statesmanship has rallied the
international opinion behind India….the world today condemns Pakistan but the
Congress condemns the leader of the winning nation. Patriotism today sweeps the entire
nation but the Congress condemns India’s patriotic leader-. Arun Jaitley of BJP.
The Kargil war has almost ended, but the political
parties in the country are now active in the war of words and converting "Operation
Vijay" into operation "Lok Sabha poll."
In the beginning of Kargil conflict, all the political parties
kept aside their differences at the hour of "national crisis" and expressed
their solidarity with the government and the army. An emotional upsurge never before seen
and with the media bringing the war to the drawing rooms, people from all walks of life in
the country irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, and region stood unitedly behind
the government and the army fighting the Pakistani intruders. But once the government had
a firm grip over the situation, the opposition parties, particularly the Congress and the
Communists began to see the situation in Kargil through electoral politics. They
apprehended that the favourable outcome of this conflict might benefit the BJP led
Government in the ensuing midterm Lok Sabha polls. Firing its first shot, the Congress in
a statement said, "Kargil shows that Lahore Bus diplomacy has been an utter
failure." M.K.Dhar, a retired Joint Director in Intelligence Bureau (he has
reportedly joined the Congress party) in a write-up "Death of Lahore
Declaration" in a recent issue of `Nation and the World` ridiculed the Government. He
said, "Remember, the euphoria generated by the BJP leadership through the media over
Vajpayee`s bus journey to Lahore undertaken, firstly, to please the Americans and secondly
to claim it as a diplomatic achievement of great import which would also draw the Muslim
voters to the party. Never in the history of international diplomacy has a bi-lateral
agreement been unilaterally disowned even before the ink has dried on it, as has happened
to the ill conceived Lahore declaration, which went entirely in Pakistan favour."
When almost all the newspapers in the country described the G-8 communique on Kargil
crisis as vindication of India`s stand, Ajit Jogi, spokesman of Congress interpreted it as
failure of the Government`s diplomacy because Pakistan had not been named explicitly as
aggressor in it. Ironically, even the former Prime Minister, I.K.Gujaral who should know
better described the communiqué as ambiguous.
The Congress dilemma:
To avoid face to face dialogue with the Government, Ms Sonia
Gandhi stayed away from the all-party meeting convened by the government and sent her
representative. She got her figures wrong when in her recent rally at Ahmedabad, said,
"thousands of our brave soldiers were murdered in Kargil." When the BJP demanded
an apology from her, she changed her statement in a Lucknow rally saying, "hundreds
of our brave soldiers sacrificed their lives in Kargil." The BJP retorted "She
had hurt the sentiments of the soldiers and the nation by distorting the truth."
Later, the Congress party changed the tune and its spokesman said, "we will the
discomforting questions every alternate day."
The Congress leaders are in a dilemma over the Kargil issue in
their election campaign. A section in the party is of the view that the criticism of the
Government on Kargil issue has not been well received by the people in the country and
hence the party should avoid focussing on the alleged failure of the government on Kargil
but concentrate their fire on the overall performance of the government. They feel that
the post-Kargil Vajpayee has developed a much larger image, while the Congress president
Sonia Gandhi’s image might get overshadowed if she stretches the Kargil issue beyond
a point.
The advisers of Sonia Gandhi do not appear to be convinced of
this view. In the CWC meeting of the party on July 21-22, members sensing the mind of
Sonia Gandhi decided to make Vajpayee their main focus of attack and to launch an
aggressive campaign against him on Kargil issue. Blaming the Prime minister for keeping
the country in the dark about Pakistani infiltration in Kargil it said "revelation of
truth would have exposed him to ridicule before the nation."
Communist parties:
The communist parties focussed mainly on the "failure of
the government." The CPI General Secretary, A.B.Bardhan wrote to the President of
India accusing the government on "back-channel diplomacy" on Kargil and the
alleged secret visit of a representative of a `big industrialist` to Pakistan. Referring
to an editorial "Enough is enough—teach Islami Pakistan a lesson" published
in RSS mouthpiece `Panchajanya`, he accused the Sangh leaders of communalising the Kargil
issue.
The CPM Polit bureau member, Sitaram Yechuri in an interview
(Times of India, July 17, 99) said, "the BJP Government has a lot to explain with
regard to its lapses in allowing the intrusion in Kargil." Accepting the
`commendable` job done by Indian Army and Air Force, he questioned, "why did we have
to sacrifice so many lives? Could this not have been nipped in bud? This was a serious
lapse on the part of the government and all those responsible for such negligence should
be brought to book." He did not consider the Kargil triumph as victory in true sense
and said, "we have managed to push back the enemy from our own land after tremendous
sacrifices. We have achieved the clearing of intrusion from our own house."
Other opposition parties:
The non-Congress, non-Communist opposition parties,
particularly the Socialists were only keen to convene a special session of Rajya Sabha to
censure the government on its failure in the Kargil crisis. (The government is in a
minority in the Rajya sabha.)
BJP:
Despite the criticism of Vajpayee Government, the morale of
the BJP cadres continues to be high. The party leaders had initially pronounced that they
would not make Kargil a poll issue as was evident from party General Secretary, Venkaiah
Naidu`s statement (Chennai, June 21, 99), "We will not project Kargil problem during
our election campaign." However, when the `diplomatic and military victory`on Kargil
galvanised the people, particularly the middle class who appeared to be in a mood to
support the government, the leaders could not resist the temptation to exploit the
situation for getting political mileage in Lok Sabha election. Every statement of the
opposition was countered aggressively by different leaders. They had assessed that the
moisture of the alleged failure of the government on intelligence and security is
evaporating with the heat generated by the humiliating defeat of Pakistan. Whether it is
``Atal Sandesh Yatra`` launched by Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha or ``Martyrs Day`` observed
by the party, the BJP leaders invariably attacked Congress and Communists for their
anti-Government attitude on Kargil issue.
Right from the day the intrusion in Kargil was detected, the BJP
began its political exercise on this issue. It convened an emergency meeting (New
Delhi-May 31`99) of its National Executive Committee which was also attended by Defence
Minister, George Fernandes (Samata Party) as a special guest to apprise the members with
the situation and the steps taken by the Government to drive away the intruders. Top
Army/Air Force officers briefed the members, a step vehemently criticised by the
opposition.
Replying to the Congress criticism of Lahore Bus diplomacy,
Narendra Modi, General Secretary of the BJP in a write-up in party organ ‘BJP
Today’said, "The Lahore Declaration is today the benchmark by which Governments
across the world are judging the intrusion by Pakistan in Kargil." He maintained that
the Lahore Bus ride, which was a major initiative of Indian Prime Minister is today a
testimony of India`s commitment to peace. Ridiculing the Congress, he said, "Pakistan
has repeatedly violated the Shimla Agreement –Does it mean that signing of Shimla
Agreement was foolish or the said Agreement has collapsed?" The Foreign Affairs cell
of the BJP through a statement (New Delhi, June 25`99) ridiculed the Congress leader
Natwar Singh for his remarks, "G-8 communique did not name Pakistan" and also
that, "pathetic attempts of the Government to clutch on to any straw to get an
international certificate" said, "It is amazing that at a time when the
international community is appreciative of the restraint exercised by India in dealing
with the Pakistan misadventure and of the success of Indian diplomacy in convincing the
G-8 and others that Pakistan has violated the LOC and thus committed aggression, Shri
Natwar Singh has chosen to live in a make belief world of his own. The BJP Vice-President,
K.L.Sharma wanted the Congress to answer, in unambiguous terms whether the Congress
disagreed with the initiative to free Indian soil of Pakistani intruders? He maintained,
"we believe all Congress pronouncements as also its demand for a special session of
Rajya Sabha are driven by a single motivation: to score political points at a time when
the nation`s territorial integrity is threatened by enemy forces." Lashing out at CWC
resolution (July 20-21`99) of the Congress for neither making any reference on Pakistan
intrusion into Kargil nor condemning it, the BJP spokesman Arun Jaitely (New Delhi-July
22`99) said, "Now that the nation has won the war, the Congress leadership feels, it
has lost the election—hence its frustration."
RSS:
The RSS which had all along been blaming Jawahar Lal Nehru
for the Kashmir problem, in its All India Karyakari Mandal meeting (Sarnath-Varanasi-July3
and 4`99) re-iterated its stand that the impractical policies pursued by Jawahar Lal Nehru
was responsible for the present Kargil crisis. The apex executive body of RSS also called
upon the "swayamsevakas" to extend every possible help to make ‘Operation
Vijay‘ successful and also to spread awareness in the country of the Kashmir problem.
K.S.Sudarshan, Sahsarkaryavah in a press conference pointed out that the pro-active policy
on Kashmir followed by the BJP-led Government at Centre was successful in curbing
terrorism in the state. The Vishva Hindu Parishad, a constituent of Sangh Parivar in a
recently held a meeting of its Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal at Haridwar, to discuss
national security with special emphasis on Kargil and Kashmir, resolved to defend the
unity and integrity of the nation and to take up a countrywide mass awareness programme
from Guru Purnima (July 28`99) to Raksha Bandhan (August 26`99). During this period the
saints have a plan to hold ``Rashtra Raksha Yajnas`` and public meetings at over 50,000
places throughout the country. The VHP has reportedly also donated Rs.1.5 crores to the
National Defence Fund. The VHP is also out to draw political mileage for the BJP in
midterm Lok Sabha poll.
Kargil- the key to electoral victory?
Against the backdrop of the politicisation of Kargil, it appears
that Kargil is now the key to electoral victory and as such the political leaders in the
country are busy finding various means to exploit it. It is too early to say how far the
people in the country who are watching the situation very closely would respond but the
ruling party has already benefited from the crisis. This was the
reason that Chandrababu Naidu, Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh was inclined to be a
constituent of National Democratic Alliance led by BJP. Ram Vilas Paswan and Sharad Yadav
of the Janata Dal in their statements said, "communalism is no more relevant as the
BJP with its secular allies have given up its communal agenda``. The Shiv Sena-BJP
coalition Government in Maharashtra dissolved the state assembly and recommended for
simultaneous assembly election along with Lok Sabha to overcome the anti-incumbency factor
by exploiting the post-Kargil mood of the voters to support the Vajpayee led Government at
the centre.
The guns in Kargil are almost silent but the political leaders in
India are not comfortable and have started booming their political guns against each other
to fight the electoral war.
R.Upadhyay
25.7.99
