WAR TALK: Vajpayee and Advani need to shore up the BJP for polls

There is nothing lyrical about war nor is there anything combative about poetry. But the final week of 2001 saw Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee flit effortlessly between sabre-rattling and poetry reading. An hour after holding Pakistan responsible for thrusting war on India, Vajpayee carried the war talk into a kavi sammelan organised to mark his 78th birthday, December 25.

"Sehene ki bhi seema hoti hai, sagar mein jwala soti hai (There is a limit to forbearance/The volcano is sleeping in the sea)." As his words rang loud and clear in a Delhi auditorium, Vajpayee raised the spectre of a desi version of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The Nation VIEWPOINTS SAHIB SINGH VERMA BJP leader "We are for war against terrorists, not against Pakistan. People want to teach it a lesson but they don't want a war." SALMAN KHURSHID Congress leader "We are not ready for war. The CAG report says our forces are not optimally equipped. Skirmishes along the LoC are okay." SOMNATH CHATTERJEE CPI(M) leader "Attack on Parliament is a provocation to tighten security, not to go for war. The Government's bravado is linked to assembly elections." V.K. MALHOTRA BJP's chief whip "The fight against terror was on our agenda even before we came to power. Action against Pakistan only angers minorities.

But soon after he squelched all such prospects. The prime minister of a nation going to war would surely not spend an entire evening listening to war poetry as Vajpayee did. Nor for that matter would a war-time government routinely announce assembly elections in mid-February in four states including the border state of Punjab; or leave the official visits by British and Chinese prime ministers, scheduled for January, unaltered.

Whether the nation goes to war or not, the Government is certainly at war against terrorism. Elsewhere in the world, the logic goes, war revives the economy. In India it revs up politics. The fight against terrorists and the events of December 13 have reignited the rhetoric of nationalism. At election time, there are no prizes for guessing which political party is smiling the broadest.

"Since the BJP is identified with aggressive nationalism, whenever such an issue comes to the fore in domestic politics it goes to the advantage of the party," says Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley. Besides, the Jaish-e-Mohammed's threat to continue with terrorist strikes till the BJP is thrown out of power-and the general perception that the Congress and the Left are softer on anti-terrorism measures-have enhanced the BJP's appeal; or at least its mood.

Post-December 13, the BJP imagines, it has secured an edge over its main rival in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party. More than what it had hoped to achieve by making the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) a poll issue. The attack put the coffin purchase scandal on the back burner, enabling both the Government and the party to resort to the language of aggression once more.

Vajpayee set the trend. In his address to the nation on December 13, he called for "aar par ki ladai" or a conclusive battle against terrorism. The following day BJP MPs besieged him in the Lok Sabha lobby and urged him not to be influenced by the US in taking strategic decisions. The implication was that Washington was coming in the way of strong action.

The aggressive anti-Americanism of the MPs went down very well with the BJP cadre. It forced Robert Blackwill, the US ambassador, to invite second-rung BJP leaders to dinner.

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Next, party office-bearers held a meeting and called upon the Government to downgrade diplomatic relations with Islamabad, stop Samjhauta Express-the Indo-Pakistani rail link-and the New Delhi-Lahore bus service. A day later the Government duly responded. The high commissioner to Islamabad was recalled.

The attack also helped the Sangh Parivar close ranks. The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, which had been unhappy with the Vajpayee Government, likened the situation to the 1971 war. Likewise the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) indicated that it would not push the Government to meet its March 12 deadline on beginning construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya. "If the Government is going to act against Pakistan, our sadhus will take appropriate action," says Pravin Togadia, international secretary-general, VHP.

Are the atmospherics enough to gloss over the inadequacies of outgoing BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal? "The attack has been a blessing in disguise. It has given us a psychological advantage. However, we will not gain anything at the hustings if there is no concrete action," admits a party functionary.

The Congress' refusal to repeat mistakes during the Kargil war has also made confrontation with Pakistan a non-partisan issue. "By extending unstinted support to the Government in her speech in the Lok Sabha, Sonia Gandhi gave us no handle," says a disappointed BJP Parliamentary Party functionary.

The Congress, of course, is pleased with itself. "The BJP has no monopoly over patriotism. Against whom will they now whip up war hysteria?" asks AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni. Former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Salman Khurshid insists the security lapse of December 13 would figure in the party's election campaign.

No wonder half the BJP is praying for war.