Columns: Fifth Column

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India-Today, July 5, 1999
July 5, 1999

FIFTH COLUMN
Keep Politics Out

Taking advantage of Kargil is to mock our heroes' sacrifices.

By Tavleen Singh

As the battle of Kargil painfully lingers on, the valour of our soldiers makes a sad contrast with the continuing stupidity of our political leaders. You would imagine that the daily tragedy of those coffins coming down from Srinagar would have a sobering effect on even the most irresponsible of our politicians but, alas, this is not to be. They continue with their tawdry attempts to score political points. So we have that well-known expert on defence matters, Dr J. Jayalalitha, churning out six-page statements demanding the resignation of the defence minister and a special session of the Rajya Sabha to discuss the Kargil issue.

The Congress, always ahead when it comes to making political hay even when the sun doesn't shine, appears to believe that what is happening in Kargil is the same sort of thing as the Dalit massacre in Belchi. That was when the original Mrs Gandhi saw her chance to make a comeback during the Janata Party days and visited the village on an elephant because it was the only form of transport available. Our new Mrs G, mercifully, spared us the elephant but trotted off, nevertheless, to visit wounded soldiers in hospitals in Kashmir to whom, in proper Lady Bountiful mode, she distributed blankets and food. Did she think there was a shortage of these things in military hospitals? Did she feel that her very presence would inspire our soldiers to return to their desolate battlefield in the Himalayas? If not, what possible reason could have motivated this expedition other than a desperation to make political capital?

For that matter, was there any need for the Congress to send a delegation up to Kargil to provide despatches from the frontline? Surely the MPs who went up cannot be considered more competent to do this than the Government or the armed forces? Afterwards, apparently after pondering the fresh insights the delegation brought, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) pronounced that it was its considered view that the Government was taking too long in solving the problem and what were needed were "quick results".

How? Does the CWC believe that our soldiers are not fighting hard enough? What more should they be doing? According to defence analysts, they are doing as good a job and as quickly as possible in one of the most brutal battlefields in the world but clearly this is not good enough for the Congress which, as always, believes that only it can rule India.

That our opposition leaders have not cornered the market in stupidity can be seen from the statements that emanate daily from the BJP's various spokesmen. So we have that renowned foreign policy specialist, K.N. Govindacharya, telling us that "India had launched a two-pronged strategy. One is firm action on the ground to clear the intruders and two, to tell the world about Pakistan's attempt to cover up its involvement." Well done, Mr Govindacharya, what perception. Has it occurred to you, though, that any child in India could have told you this if asked to comment on Kargil in a school essay.

Amidst this cacophony of inane voices, it comes as a great relief that at least the prime minister and the minister of external affairs have spoken, and behaved, like true leaders rather than goofs. The prime minister, after his initial hesitation to lead from the front, has spoken almost always with wisdom and firmness. Whether it was to soldiers in Kashmir or to the daily crowd of visitors at the prime minister's house he has stuck to the main point, which is that our soldiers are fighting for the country and need all the support they can get. He has repeatedly made references to the fact that India extended to Pakistan the hand of friendship in Lahore last February and the gesture has not only not been reciprocated but has been answered with gunfire. There will be no further talks, no friendship until Pakistan withdraws from our territory.

Jaswant Singh added that he told Pakistan's foreign minister that if he wanted "de-escalation" then it was in his hands to alter the situation that caused the escalation in the first place. Nothing more needs to be said and, frankly, it needs to be said only by senior ministers and officials in the Government. If opposition parties and sundry party spokesmen want to add their two bits then they should do it by following the example of ordinary Indians who have gone out of their way, across the country, to show their solidarity with our soldiers. They have donated blood, raised money, written letters of support and offered help to those who have lost sons, brothers and husbands in this ugly war.

It is almost the first time that the country has been so united in a cause and this should come as a warning to Pakistan's generals and policy-makers who continue to believe that severing Kashmir from India will result in the eventual collapse of the rest of the country. It is on this old-fashioned, delusive view of India that Pakistan bases much of its Kashmir policy.

In fact, if there is one thing that we have truly achieved in the past 50 years it is the creation of a national identity. No longer does Lata Mangeshkar need to remind us, as she did memorably after the war with China in 1962, that the "Sikhs, Jats, Marathas, Gorkhas and Madrasis" who die on our borders are all Indian. We know that. If only there was some way of making our political leaders too understand the need for unity, maturity and restraint in difficult times. Perhaps someone needs to remind them that every time they appear to be taking political advantage of the crisis in Kargil they mock the sacrifices of our soldiers.

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